Lowest illicit drug offender numbers recorded in 14 years

Australia saw a 19 per cent drop in the number of offenders proceeded against by police for illicit drug offences in 2021-22, the sixth straight annual decrease, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

William Milne, ABS head of crime and justice statistics, said there were 50,920 illicit drug offenders in 2021-22, the lowest number recorded in the 14 years since this report began.

“The number of illicit drug offenders have been falling since a peak in 2015-16. The largest decreases coincided with the last two years of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions around Australia.

“This year’s decrease was largely due to a decline in the number of offenders charged with the possession or use of illicit drugs, which fell by 7,079 offenders or 17 per cent,” Mr Milne said.

All states and territories recorded fewer illicit drug offenders from the previous year, with the largest drop in Queensland, down 3,665 offenders (-18 per cent), followed by South Australia down 2,700 offenders (-29 per cent) and New South Wales down 2,616 offenders (-18 per cent).

In contrast, over the last year, the overall number of offenders recorded by police in Australia increased by 3 per cent, to 369,488 offenders in 2021-22.

“Largely contributing to this increase was a rise in COVID-19-related offences, which more than doubled from the previous year (up 39,573 offenders),” Mr Milne said.  

Further details can be found in Recorded Crime - Offenders available as a free download from the ABS website