A new report to address drug policy reform in NSW has handed down over 50 recommendations, including scrapping sniffer dogs and strip searching at music festivals and reducing minor drug use and possession conviction periods.
The report was submitted to the NSW Government on Thursday, following the 2024 Drug Summit that took place last December. More than 500 people and 250 organisations attended, including policy experts, healthcare pros, politicians, and people who’ve actually dealt with drug use firsthand.
Among its 56 key proposals, the report called for drug checking services at music festivals, which kicked off last month with a pill-testing trial at Wollongong’s Yours and Owls Festival.
The NSW government has launched a 12-month trial for drug checking services at up to 12 music festivals and events this year. (Source: Facebook)
It proposed scrapping the use of drug detection dogs and strip searching at these festivals, with many attendees pointing out the threat of detection and arrest “can lead to panic consumption”.
Healthcare professionals also emphasised the potential harm of strip searching, which can damage trust between young Aussies and law enforcement, and create barriers to seeking help.
On Wednesday, the NSW government admitted that police officers unlawfully strip searched a woman at Splendour in the Grass in 2018 amid a class action lawsuit alleging widespread unlawful searches across NSW music festivals.
In an effort to “reduce stigma and discrimination”, the NSW government was also urged to reduce the period of conviction for minor drug use and possession, down from 10 years to five years for adults and from three years to one year for juveniles.
People using medically prescribed cannabis who were driving could soon also see a legal defence, with the report proposing an option for roadside police or a court to assess the defence of medicinal cannabis and develop guidelines by relevant government agencies like transport, health, police, and justice.
Just last month, a major change to driving laws in Victoria meant patients using prescribed cannabis will no longer automatically lose their driving licence if they test positive for traces of the drug during roadside tests.
The report also called for more awareness campaigns targeted at young people about drugs, as well as age-appropriate school programs.
However, there’s no recommendation for full decriminalisation of small drug quantities, although the report acknowledged “substantial support” for this to be replaced with an enhanced system toward a health — and not criminal — approach.
“In comments made prior to the drug summit, the premier made it clear he did not believe the government had a mandate for decriminalisation and it was not on the government’s agenda,” it noted.
Will the government implement these drug policy changes?
In a statement on Thursday, NSW health minister Ryan Park said the summit “sought to reflect the many different parts of our community touched by this challenge – healthcare, justice, housing, social services and those disproportionately impacted by illicit drugs”.
“Not everyone agreed on everything, but we sought to have every voice listened to,” he said.
Thanking summit co-chairs, former senior NSW politicians John Brogden and Carmel Tebbutt, Park said the government will “carefully consider” the findings and respond in due course.
Emma Maiden, director of advocacy and external relations at Uniting NSW and ACT, urged the government to “act swiftly” in its political and legislative response to this report.
“The people of NSW have waited far too long for positive change to our unfair drug laws, laws which perpetuate harm, promote stigma and fail to address drug use and dependency as a health and welfare issue, rather than an issue for cops and courts,” she said.
“With sensible changes, we can ensure the people we love are in the right system, keeping them safe.”
Meanwhile Cate Faehrmann, Greens MP and drug law reform and harm reduction spokesperson, stated the report’s recommendations don’t go far enough. In particular, the MP said it is “extremely disappointing” that removing criminal penalties for drug use and possession wasn’t a recommendation.
“However, a recommendation around the need to reform drug diversion laws is welcome. The vast majority of people caught with a personal quantity of illegal drugs are still charged and sent to court since the law came into place last year. This reform is urgent,” Faehrmann said.
“There is an urgent need to reform our drug driving laws so that medicinal cannabis patients can drive when not impaired without the fear of being charged with driving with the mere presence of THC in their system. It’s extremely welcome to see this recommendation in the report.”
If you’ll like to peep the full report, you can check it out HERE.
Lead image: Getty / AAP
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