BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
The country’s existing laws put Solomon Islands in a reactive cycle, and leaves the country exposed.
Law Reform Commission (LRC) Senior Legal Officer, Augustine Basia told the Bills and Legislation Committee (BLC) the above when he appeared before the committee during the inquiry into the dangerous amendment Bill 2025 last month.
Mr Basia shared that countries that have faced similar challenges have redesigned their laws and moved away from list-based models towards effect-based models approach that criminalises substance based on what they do, not on what they are.
He adds that it focuses on psychoactive impact; how they affect the mind and the body rather than their chemical name or their chemical makeup and structure.
“By embracing an effect-based approach, our laws can anticipate new threats, close loopholes, and protect communities far more effectively than a list-based system ever could. International best practice shows the value of this approach as it ensures that substances designed to copy the effects of controlled drugs are automatically illegal,” he said.
“Without similar measures, the laws we have passed keep us in a reactive cycle, leaving us exposed until the next round of updates,” he said.
Mr Basia said that modern drug laws often use the idea of psychoactive substances.
“This means any substance that changes how a person thinks, feels, behaves, for example, affecting mental function, perception, mood, or emotions. This approach makes laws stronger because they don’t depend on chemical names. Even if manufacturers change the chemical structure of a drug, as long as it still has the same mind-altering effects, it can be covered by the law,” he said.
He said that the most urgent problem with country’s current system is that it cannot keep up with the new substances designed to avoid the existing list.
“If these substances are left out of the law, it weakens enforcement and public trust. Police and other agencies may come across dangerous drugs that are technically legal until they are officially added to the list to make it illegal,” Basia said.
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