3 weeks Ago By Damon Cronshaw
Hunter residents caught using or possessing cannabis are charged much more often than those in affluent areas of Sydney and Byron Bay. Login or signup to continue reading Crime data shows 5650 incidents of people caught in the Hunter for cannabis use or possession in the last decade. Only 31 per cent of those cases were given a cannabis caution.
In more affluent areas, the rate of cannabis cautions over a decade were: North Sydney (78 per cent), Northern Beaches (64 per cent), Byron Bay (64 per cent), Sydney (50 per cent). The statewide rate of cannabis cautions was 44 per cent. The 25-year anniversary of the Cannabis Cautioning Scheme falls this month.
It was established in response to the 1999 NSW Drug Summit. A report on the 2024 Drug Summit, released this month, recommended asking the NSW Attorney-General to "review opportunities for consistency" in the cautioning scheme. Attorney-General Michael Daley said the NSW government would "carefully consider" the report.
"Recent changes [in 2023] have increased access to the scheme," Mr Daley said. Police can now caution people if they are found with up to 30 grams of cannabis. The previous limit was 15 grams.
People with previous violent or low-level drug offences are now eligible for the scheme, but those with prior convictions of serious drug offences remain ineligible. Police can use discretion in deciding who receives a caution and who gets charged. Andrew Fenwick, Hunter candidate for the Legalise Cannabis Party, said "my main concern with the cautioning scheme is the discretionary power of the police".
"That makes the system unfair," Mr Fenwick said. "This is why we're pushing for legalisation. We want to keep as many people out of the judicial system as possible.
"We don't want people with criminal offences for simple possession." Mr Fenwick questioned why the NSW government and its police force were continuing the war on cannabis . "Why do we continue to enforce a 1920s morality prohibition from southern America?" he said.
"It was never prohibited because of danger, science or damage to society. "It was just that somebody decided it was immoral for people to be using cannabis." Mr Fenwick said cannabis was "the last of the morality laws that need to be changed".
"We've sorted out gay marriage, abortion, women voting, equality for black people, but we still have cannabis prohibition. "We're spinning wheels on the low end of the spectrum [cannabis use] and doing almost nothing to address supply, distribution and criminal gangs." The rate of cannabis cautions is similar in the regions and less affluent areas of Sydney.
These rates prove that: Central Coast (38 per cent), Wollongong (35 per cent), Blacktown (36 per cent), Liverpool (36 per cent) and Penrith (35 per cent). A breakdown of Hunter areas show the caution rates were: Newcastle (31 per cent), Lake Macquarie (37 per cent), Port Stephens (35 per cent), Maitland (29 per cent), Cessnock (29 per cent), Muswellbrook (18 per cent), Singleton (15 per cent), Dungog (31 per cent) and Upper Hunter (15 per cent). A NSW Police spokesperson said "there are many variables that would influence the number of cautions given within an area over a 10-year period".
This included "population, tourism and music festivals". However, the data showed the disparity in cannabis cautions between wealthy Sydney areas and the Hunter continued last year. Health and medicine, science, research, nutrition.
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