Illicit drug policy: developments since the 2020 Ice inquiry report
Government policy to address the use of illicit drugs is a topic of ongoing debate.
In July 2024 the NSW Government announced that it would hold a drug summit, with 2 days in regional NSW on 1 and 4 November 2024 and 2 days in Sydney on 4 and 5 December 2024.
This paper provides an update on key policy developments since the report of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug Ice in January 2020. The paper summarises the former government's response to the inquiry recommendations and notes progress that has been made since then. Significant reforms in other states and territories are outlined and the decriminalisation of personal drug use in 3 overseas jurisdictions is also discussed.
Lenny Roth, BCom, LLB
Tom Gotsis, BA, LLB, Dip Ed, Grad Dip Soc Sci
Christine Lamerton, BA (Lib Sci), AALIA
Ali Rabbani, BSc (Hons)
Parliamentary Research Service
Research Paper 8, 2024
Key Points
- Government policy to address the use of illicit drugs is a topic of ongoing debate. The NSW Government is holding a drug summit, with 2 days in regional NSW on 1 and 4 November 2024 and 2 days in Sydney on 4 and 5 December 2024.
- The NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug Ice was established in 2018 to investigate and advise on how best to tackle use of amphetamine-type stimulants. Its report was released in January 2020 and made 109 recommendations.
- The former government's response to the inquiry supported 86 of these recommendations. The government announced a $500 million funding package over 4 years including $358 million for health-related programs and $140 million to expand justice initiatives.
- Recommendations that the government rejected included decriminalising the personal use of illicit drugs, introducing pill testing, and expanding supervised drug consumption facilities.
- In February 2024 NSW Health provided an update on progress in implementing the recommendations that the government had supported.
- A new police diversion program for possessing small quantities of illicit drugs commenced in February 2024 (the Early Drug Diversion Initiative). Critics have argued that police are diverting only a small proportion of those who are eligible for the program.
- In 2023 the ACT enacted laws to decriminalise personal use of small amounts of various illicit drugs. Pill testing services have continued in the ACT, were introduced in 2024 in Queensland, and will commence in Victoria in the summer of 2024–25.
- Oregon decriminalised the personal use of illicit drugs in 2021 and British Columbia also did so in 2023. In 2024 Oregon reinstated criminal penalties while recent changes in British Columbia have restricted the public places where personal drug use is legal.
- In 2022–23 most respondents to Australia's Drug Strategy Household Survey did not support legalising the personal use of illicit drugs but most respondents did support pill testing and regulated injecting centres.
First published: 8 October 2024. Updated version published 28 November 2024.*
*Updated version corrects a figure on page 8 (see footnote 18).