People can possess two types of drugs so long as both are under the allowable limit without facing criminal penalties, under the ACT's new drug laws.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said this was implemented as most people who use drugs are likely to use one or two drugs.
She said this was added to the territory's drug decriminalisation bill after a "thorough, thorough consideration".
"Where we landed was that you would still be eligible for a simple drug offence notice if you had up to 200 per cent of the small amounts as long as you didn't have more than 100 per cent of any single drug," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
For example, under the laws a person can possess 1.4 grams of both cocaine and meth and not receive a criminal penalty. The maximum possession amount for both drugs is 1.5 grams. But if a person was caught with 1.6 grams of cocaine alone they could face the potential for a criminal penalty.
The ACT's drug decriminalisation laws came into effect on Saturday. Ms Stephen-Smith said she did not believe there would be a substantial increase in drug use and she did not expect there would be a lot of change in a short period of time.
She said possessing drugs was still illegal and supplying drugs still remained a criminal offence.
"If police have a reasonable suspicion that you are in the possession of that drug for the purposes of dealing or you are dealing or supplying drugs that is still an offence," she told The Canberra Times.
Ms Stephen-Smith said she felt arguments around the ACT being a place for "drug tourism" were predicated on an argument that it would be easier to obtain drugs but she did not believe this would be the case.
"If people think they're going to be able to come to the ACT and easily purchase drugs from a shopfront, that's not going to happen because those kinds of supply and that kind of supply availability won't exist," she said.
Under the new laws, people caught with small amounts of illicit drugs including cocaine, meth and heroin can choose to pay a $100 fine or attend a one-hour session, held by Canberra Health Services, to discuss their drug use.
It is the second major change to the territory's drug laws in a matter of years.
The ACT legalised the use of cannabis for personal use in 2020. Both the drug decriminalisation bill and the cannabis legalisation bill were put forward by Labor backbencher Michael Pettersson.
Ms Stephen-Smith said there had been a small increase in people using cannabis in the ACT since the laws took effect based on wastewater test results. But she said more people had come forward to seek support about their addiction since the drug was legalised.
"We haven't seen an increase in hospitalisation or hospital presentations as a result of harmful cannabis use but people are clearly feeling more confident to come forward and seek help about reducing harm associated with their cannabis use so it will be interesting to see if we see the same thing here."
Ms Stephen-Smith argued the greatest deterrent for drug use was the fact that drugs are bad for you.
"There is very limited evidence that on paper penalties for the possession of drugs are a substantial deterrent from people taking drugs," she said.
"Most people don't use drugs because they know that using drugs is not a good idea. It's not safe and they have no particular incentive to do so."
Police have increased roadside drug testing and have ramped up the number of officers in Civic over the weekend.
ACT chief police officer Neil Gaughan said police were preparing for all outcomes. He said one of his biggest concerns was that the changes to drug laws could affect drug driving.
"One thing we really want to emphasise is that the drugs laws in relation to you driving a motor vehicle have not changed," he said.
"That is, you are not to take drugs and drive. If we test you and if you have any drugs in your system, regardless of the level, then that is an offence and we will be stamping that out real quickly."
