Drug offences

It is an offence to possess, use, produce or supply a prohibited drug in NSW. Penalties vary according to the type and amount of drugs involved.

This page presents data on use/possess drug offences in NSW. This includes any offences where a non-commercial quantity of an illicit drug or controlled substance was found. The data is available split by six main illicit drug types: cocaine, narcotics, cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy or other drugs.   

Data file: Use-possess illicit drug offences (XLSX, 61.9 KB)

The first chart shows the 10 year trends in the number of use/possess drug incidents recorded by the NSW Police by drug type and region.



We next turn to look at regional patterns in drug possession. The map below shows the location of incidents of use/possess drug offences by drug type.



The next section presents data showing 10 year trends in police proceedings for drug possession by method of legal proceeding, age and drug type.



Finally we explore the penalties received by those offenders sentenced in court for drug possession by drug type.



Last updated:

22 Oct 2024