Drug-related infringement notices among a national sample of people who regularly inject drugs, 2023 - Antonia Karlsson, Amy Peacock and Rachel Sutherland

Drug-related infringement notices among a national sample of people who regularly inject drugs, 2023 Antonia Karlsson, Amy Peacock and Rachel Sutherland This report was prepared by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Sydney For further information: a.karlsson@unsw.edu.au Introduction Use and possession of illicit drugs is a criminal offence in all Australian jurisdictions, with the. [...] Given the recent decriminalisation of drugs in Canberra, which allows police to issue fines for the possession of small quantities of illicit drugs, and growing support for decriminalisation across Australia, this bulletin aimed to examine the experiences of drug- related fines among a national sample of people who inject drugs recruited from capital cities. [...] Results Using data from the 2023 Illicit Drug Reporting System (N=820), we found that: Nationally, one third (33%) of IDRS Of those who reported a drug-related The median amount of the last infringement participants in 2023 reported a past year encounter, 7% (n=59) received an notice was $458.50 (IQR=215-600; n=50) drug-related encounter with police which did infringement notice in the 12 months n. [...] Discussion Few participants reported receiving a drug-related fine in the past year, however, the median amount of the fine was high ($458.50), particularly considering the average median weekly income of this population ($400) [2]. [...] Monograph no.27: criminal justice responses relating to personal use and possession of illicit drugs: the reach of Australian drug diversion programs and barriers and facilitators to expansion.