Today former President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties and former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery AO KC, appeared before the inquiry into the impact of the regulatory frameworks for cannabis in NSW.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties has long called for decriminalisation coupled with regulation of cannabis across Australia. We believe that the criminal law is ill-suited to deal with drug use in the community.

Comments from Nicholas Cowdery AO KC, Past President, NSW Council for Civil Liberties

“Most people who use cannabis lead ordinary lives and do not experience drug dependency. We know that every year in NSW over 700,000 people from all walks of life use cannabis and that the Australian public’s view of cannabis is growing more accepting.

There is consistent evidence that decriminalisation doesn’t encourage cannabis use or increase cannabis taking in the community. In fact, decriminalisation may have the opposite effect, as more people are able to access advice and support and treatment for any problematic issue resulting from cannabis use. For people who have problematic drug use, we support a health and social support response rather than a criminal justice response.

The CCL is relieved that the Minns Government has announced the 2024 Drug Summit and 12 new drug and alcohol hubs across the state. We, like many other civil society and service delivery organisations have been calling on the government to honour this important election promise.

However, we need action now. The CCL is deeply concerned about the unacceptably high level of First Nations people in custody and the general over-policing of First Nations People in NSW, including in relation to cannabis. The appalling overrepresentation of First Nations people in the criminal justice process in comparison to the general population is a crisis that successive governments have lumped into the too hard basket.

We know that the average imprisonment rate of First Nations people in NSW is 1,839 per 100,000 people – that is almost 14 times the rate for non-First Nations people.

We know that in 2023 NSW police were less likely to give cautions and more likely to pursue charges for minor cannabis offences if the person was First Nations: 43.9% of non- First Nations people were cautioned, compared with just 11.7% of First Nations people.

Burdening the courts with the resulting charges is a waste of public resources and has a detrimental effect on thousands of First Nations People and their families in NSW each year. To start closing the gap on this appalling disparity, the community needs action from our leaders and policies that put harm-minimisation and community-led solutions at the centre. 

The community experiences little benefit from the attempt to reduce the prevalence of a substance that remains so widely available, despite its illegality. An anomalous situation exists whereby cannabis, an arguably less dangerous drug, is illegal and more dangerous drugs such as tobacco and alcohol are legal and regulated.

Police should be able to focus on policing activities which keep the community safe, rather than being compelled by poor policy and culture to target cannabis users, the majority of whom cause no harm to society at all.”

For further information read our Submission to the Committee.