New Zealand Legislation: Acts

6B Associating with serious drug offenders

• (1) Every person commits an offence against this section who habitually associates with a serious drug offender in circumstances from which it can reasonably be inferred that the association will lead to the commission of a serious drug offence by that person or any such offender.

  (2) This section does not apply in respect of a serious drug offence against—

  • (a) Section 6 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 in relation to a Class C controlled drug specified or described in Part 1 of Schedule 3 of that Act (other than catha edulis plant or coca leaf); or

  • (b) Section 9 of that Act in relation to a prohibited plant of the genus Cannabis,—

  unless the serious drug offence involved dealing with a substantial amount of that drug or cultivation of that drug on a substantial scale, as the case may be.

  (3) No information for an offence against this section may be laid unless—

  • (a) The defendant has been warned by any constable on at least 3 separate occasions that his or her continued association with the serious drug offender may lead to a charge being brought against him or her under this section; and

  • (b) Every warning under paragraph (a) in respect of an association with a serious drug offender is given not more than 7 years after the date of that serious drug offender's last conviction for a serious drug offence.

  (4) To avoid any doubt, if a person who is a serious drug offender habitually associates with another serious drug offender in the circumstances specified in subsection (1), this section does not prevent 1 or both of those persons from being charged with an offence under this section.

  (5) Every person who commits an offence against this section is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or a fine not exceeding $2,000.

  (6) In this section serious drug offender means a person who has been convicted on at least 2 separate occasions of a serious drug offence.

  Sections 6A to 6C were inserted, as from 1 January 1998, by section 4 Summary Offences Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 97).