New South Wales will become the only state that doesn’t allow cautions for people possessing drugs after Queensland moved to mandate a three-strike system.
Doctors, police and drug reform advocates are welcoming reforms, passed on Thursday night, that will see Queensland take a more progressive approach to policing the personal consumption of illegal drugs.
Under the three-strikes approach, Queensland police will be required to give a warning to a person caught for the first time possessing a small amount of any illicit drug, such as ice and heroin.
On their second and third strike, police must offer that person the chance to partake in a mandatory drug diversion assessment program.
Queensland’s health minister, Yvette D’Ath, told parliament on Thursday that the changes will open up pathways for people to receive treatment and “help address the underlying causes of their substance use”.
“Without these reforms, many people who come into contact with the criminal justice system for low-level drug offences may not receive the timely support they need,” D’Ath said.
NSW police have some discretion to give cautions when it comes to cannabis, along with other drugs possessed by children, but not for other illicit drugs.
All other states except NSW offer police the discretion to send a person to a diversion program rather than court for at least their first strike of minor possession of such drugs, but Queensland will become the first to make a three-strikes approach mandatory.
Prof Alison Ritter, a drug policy scholar at the University of NSW, said diversion programs were an “evidence-based, pragmatic and a sensible” approach to simple drug possession.
She said having officers opt for these measures rather than criminal prosecution “protects the police from accusations of potentially being racist and discriminatory”.
“It’s very pleasing to say that Queensland has finally started to improve their responses to personal use of drugs,” Ritter said. “This brings Queensland in step with every other jurisdiction in Australia, bar NSW.”
Ritter said NSW now had the least progressive drug policy in the country, demonstrating a failure to adopt evidence-based reforms.
The Queensland legislation did not pass without opposition, with the Liberal National party MP Deb Frecklington telling parliament it was “unacceptable” for a government to send a message “that it is OK to have one gram of ice on your person” and be offered a drug diversion.
“We have a government that thinks it is OK to tell my children and tell my constituents that these drugs are minor drugs,” Frecklington said. “Fentanyl, ice, cocaine and heroin are not minor drugs.”
While the Greens MP Michael Berkman said people already dealing with substance abuse didn’t need further punishment, he criticised the government for not extending the mandatory three-strike regime to children.
Every state and territory in Australia has a form of decriminalisation of cannabis, with South Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory having decriminalised it formally through law.
On Thursday the NSW premier, Chris Minns said issues including cannabis and drug driving laws would be discussed at the planned state drug summit but major changes in this term of parliament were unlikely.
“I don’t have a mandate from the people of NSW to make that policy change [on drug driving] and I’m acutely aware of that,” Minns said.
“If I did have a mandate, then the circumstances would be different … We’ll make policy changes that are consistent with our platform.”
Despite previously being in favour of decriminalising cannabis, Minns has since taken a more conservative stance.Ritter said NSW should remove criminal penalties for people who were found to possess drugs for their own use.
“It would be a cost-saving measure in terms of policing and it would provide the opportunity to provide education and support to people who might need it,” she said.
The Australian Medical Association Queensland’s president, Dr Maria Boulton, said the “very significant” reforms would divert an estimated 17,000 Queenslanders to healthcare professionals rather than prosecutors next year alone.
“So rather than go down the criminal system, which won’t help them with the inherent health issue, they will get an opportunity to get treatment,” she said.
* Additional reporting by Jordyn Beazley
