PEOPLE found with small quantities of drugs will be treated lighter under new state laws.
A state release said this is about helping people, who are often young, deal with a health issue.
Currently Police have the power to divert people found with small quantities of cannabis to a drug diversion assessment program.
That will now apply to other drugs.
According to police, diversion programs mean drug users are not seen by police again.
In Queensland each year, police will come across about 20,000 people in possession of a small quantity of drugs for their own personal use.
Currently police can spend around nine working hours processing a minor drug offence case through to its conclusion in court, where the individual who has been charged may not receive the early intervention from health experts they may need.
Expanding the police drug diversion program will free up police time to focus on serious drug offending such as drug supply, trafficking and manufacturing, while keeping people with a health issue out of the judicial system.
It’s a commonsense approach based on the evidence that if you divert people early to health and education services, they are less likely to reoffend, the government statement said.
At the other end of the scale, the penalties for those intent on spreading misery throughout the community via trafficking dangerous drugs, will increase significantly.
The trafficking of dangerous drugs results in significant economic and social harm to the community and the increase in penalty will make it clear there is zero tolerance to this form of drug offending.
The penalty for someone convicted of drug trafficking will increase from 25 years imprisonment to life imprisonment.
“The courts get needlessly clogged with minor cases that are really a health issue,” police minister Mark Ryan said.
“The individual doesn’t get the help they need.
“And police spend thousands of hours that could be better focussed on targeting the drug traffickers.
“The police support this approach.”
Attorney-general and Waterford MP Shannon Fentiman said: “This was a recommendation of the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce, which said that the Government should consider adopting a health system response to certain drug-related offences.”
Police commissioner Katarina Carroll said she wanted this reform because research showed those who received help were less likely to reoffend.
“And I know that my esteemed predecessors as police commissioner also wholeheartedly back this reform,” she said.
“It just makes sense.
“Police will continue their tough enforcement action in taking dangerous drugs off the streets of Queensland.
“Saving police time by expanding drug diversion for minor offences would enable officers to target drug manufacturers and traffickers domestically and internationally.”
