Category Archives:Drug Possession

Here are a few reasons why sniffer dogs make bad drug policy: they’re inaccurate, they’re open to bias, they’re used to target low income communities, they cost a lot of money and they increase the risk of dangerous drug behaviours such as ‘loading up’.

In terms of civil liberties, the spectre of heavily armed police using dogs to conduct searches on members of the community in train stations and other public spaces encroaches on our freedom from arbitrary interference by agents of the state.

In 2006, the New South Wales Ombudsman conducted an extensive investigation into the use of sniffer dogs, finding that:

“There is little or no evidence to support claims that drug detection dog operations deter drug use, reduce drug-related crime, or increase perceptions of public safety. Further, criticisms of the cost-effectiveness of general drug detection operations appear to be well founded…

In light of this, we have recommended that the starting point when considering our report is a review of whether the legislation in its present form, or amended as suggested, should be retained at all.”

The Ombudsman recommended that sniffer dogs be scrapped altogether. It’s taken a decade, but there is finally a chance of this becoming a reality.

The Proposed Law

Jenny Leong, the Greens MP for Newtown, has introduced a bill into New South Wales Parliament that would repeal the use of drug detection dogs by police without a warrant.

The Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Amendment (Sniffer Dogs—Repeal of Powers) Bill 2016 seeks to alter sections of the LEPRA legislation, and Tattoo Parlours Act 2012, to remove provisions relating to the use of sniffer dogs in carrying out drug detection.

“In NSW, the use of sniffer dogs by police on public transport, at festivals and in bars is not about effective drug control – it’s about police intimidation and harassment,” says Leong.

“The NSW drug dog program has been shown over and over again to be ineffective and a waste of public money. It’s also highly discriminatory – targeting already marginalised groups in our community – and a blatant breach of our civil rights.”

“Time after time the stats show that the program just doesn’t work,” says Leong. “Health and law specialists say so. The Ombudsman says so. But the government is stubbornly refusing to see the evidence.

The Bill will be debated in coming weeks. However, you can watch Jenny Leong’s speech in New South Wales Parliament in support of the bill below:

Is the Tide Turning on Sniffer Dog Use?

Earlier this year, another New South Wales MP, Labor’s Jo Haylen, spoke out against the use of sniffer dogs during a debate on health policy at the State Labor conference.

Ms Haylen, the member for Summer Hill, argued that sniffer dogs have been ineffective in targeting drug dealers, and instead have made drug users engage in even riskier behaviour – the opposite of the program’s original intentions.

“Sniffer dogs are ineffective,” she said.

“They’re wrong three quarters of the time, causing unnecessary interactions between police and young people.

“Rather than ruining lives with a criminal record or worse still, leaving people to take risks on their own, let’s be brave,” Ms Haylen said.

“Let’s make good evidence based public policy and once again make NSW a world leader when it comes to harm minimisation.”

Earlier this week, the NSW Legislation Review Committee also threw their support behind Leong’s bill, saying “[it] supports the principles and advances the human rights referenced in Sections 8A of the Legislation Review Act 1987”.

Ms Haylen argued that the government should instead be encouraging the use of amnesty bins and pill-testing at music festivals, as ways of discouraging harmful drug use. However, it is unclear what stance Labor will take on the new legislation when it comes to a vote later this year.

Sniffer Dogs in NSW

Under the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW), police have the power to use sniffer dogs in a number of places, including train stations and music festivals. In 2012 this was extended to also include tattoo parlours, despite mounting evidence that the program was a failure.

Recent statistics show that over 60% percent of searches are the result of a ‘false-positive’, where the dog has falsely indicated a person is carrying drugs. This and other problems with sniffer dog use have led criminal lawyers to conclude that positive indications are not enough to constitute the ‘reasonable suspicion’ required for a search; a conclusion which is consistent with advice given to the Ombudsman by senior barristers.

Further research has shown that drug detection dogs react heavily to the bias of their handlers – a possible explanation for the high rate of false detections. Additional research suggests that passengers boarding a train at Redfern station are 6.5 times more likely to be searched for drugs than passengers at Central station – leading to allegations of bias in police deployment.

Given the ineffectiveness of sniffer dogs – and the tragic consequences that have resulted from users ‘loading up’ before and during festivals – it is hoped that more politicians will see sense and start focusing on harm minimisation measures rather than wholesale and counter-productive interferences in personal liberties.

Earlier this week, the NSW Police Force released plans to expand its ‘Dob in a dealer’ campaign, targeting ice dealers in Sydney.

The announcement has already been met with criticism from drug reform experts, who argue that the Government should focus on harm minimisation, rather than invest further resources into the failed ‘war on drugs’.

The expansion announcement comes just months after the release of the anti-drug campaign titled ‘Stoner Sloth’ – a video series criticised for being ineffective and downright ridiculous.

According to Matt Noffs, whose Noffs Foundation specialises in drug treatment for young people, the Stoner Sloth campaign was a “waste of money”. Mr Noffs believes the money could have been better spent on helping young people to beat drug addiction and get back on the right path. He told the Sydney Morning Herald:

“For less than the cost of this campaign, we run street universities that help hundreds of kids off drugs,” and “The biggest issue I have with this campaign is that it stigmatises children with drug issues.”

But the Stoner Sloth wasn’t the first time our government failed in its attempt to deter young people from taking drugs. Here are five other ad campaign criticised for being ineffective.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Say No To Drugs Advert

On its surface, this commercial seems pretty good: it is 30 seconds long, everyone loves the Ninja Turtles, and the marijuana pusher appears crushed at the end, after the six year old’s crushing corny 90s putdown.

That is until you take a step back and think: were middle-class, suburban, TMNT-loving six-year olds really a group teetering on the brink of marijuana addiction? Probably not. In reality, this ad may have been responsible for introducing some of that demographic to the concept of pot. Oops.

If there is any message six-year-olds took from watching this ad, it’s abstaining from “pot” is for their cartoon-watching friends, while their cool, leather-clad, older brother blazes it.

Your Brain on Drugs

Probably the most famous anti-drug campaign in recent history, this ad is full of gruff condescension. After making what is, at best, a muddled egg metaphor, the voiceover guy says “any questions” in a way which implies that if you do have questions, he’s going to punch you in the face. To clarify, your brain is not an egg. And doing drugs probably won’t scramble it.

Thinking of the long-term effect of this ad, it most likely accomplished one thing: reminding pot users how great some fried eggs would be right now.

Canadian Drug Rap

Released two years after NWA’s ‘Gangsta Gangsta’ helped make smoking weed mainstream, the Canadian Drug Rap never stood a chance. Unfortunately, no-one told the Canadians. The ad itself hits that sweet spot between Barney sing-along and full-blow acid freak out, which would be hilarious if wasn’t intended as a serious anti-drug campaign.

The premise for the commercial seems to be that kids might get confused between the sorts of drugs that are prescribed by doctors, and the kind that you get on the street. This seems a tad ironic now, with evidence of doctors issuing dangerous, legal painkillers to adults. That said, “drugs, drugs, drugs” is still an amazing chorus, worthy of the next Wiz Khalifa album.

An Anti-Drug Ad We Have No Way Of Describing

There’s a school of thought within the anti-drug movement if authority figures just act really, really angry at drug users, they’ll somehow stop using drugs. While NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione’s hardline on drugs is music to the ears of conservatives, he’s got nothing on this ad.

Beginning with the iconic this-egg-is-your-brain-on-drugs commercial (above), the actor then tells us that snorting heroin is like smashing the egg with a frying pan. Where did this weird metaphor come from? She then goes crazy and begins smashing up the once-pristine kitchen. It makes for engaging viewing, until you ask: does anyone actually snort heroin?

Don’t Blaze and Bathe

Yet another confusing metaphor and scenario. In this ad, a teenaged girl smokes a joint and dives off a high dive board headfirst into – *shock* – an empty pool. The ad raises a number of important questions: how was she sober enough to change into a one-piece bathing suit, but not realise the pool was empty? How did she get into the pool in the first place? How does this have anything to do with marijuana use?

So there you have it – ineffective, expensive and sometimes confusing attempts by out-of-touch conservatives to stop young people from taking drugs. One wonders what’s next.

For some, it was ironic for a representative of the NSW Police Force to advise police at the recent Mardi Gras briefing to be vigilant of “violent extremism” during this year’s celebrations.

Although the tensions that flared up in the aftermath of the 2013 parade have largely subsided, the memory of Jamie Jackson Reed and Bry Hutchinson’s brutal arrests that year have left many questioning policing practices at the iconic event.

Last year, LQBTIQ legal groups reported receiving “significantly more” complaints than usual about police conduct during the parade, including their heavy presence outside the Moore Park after party.

More than 800 extra police were on duty at last year’s parade, as part of Operation Northcote. According to Dan Stubbs, director of the Inner City Legal Centre, the number of additional police was unnecessary and disproportionate to the event.

“People do find it intimidating and it’s not a dangerous event. In fact, it’s the safest event in the city all year… especially when you compare it to Future Music or Stereo,” he said.

The last few years have seen police introduce a swathe of new measures targeting Mardi Gras patrons; including a ‘decency inspection team’ to police the suitability of outfits.

“Drug detection dog operations teach people not to trust police”

Although there has been a general increase in sniffer dog operations in Sydney, their relationship with the LQBTIQ community is particularly chequered. According to Will Tregoning, founder of the UnHarm drug decriminalisation campaign group,

“In the early days of the drug detection dog program they were used to target specific communities. We’re talking from the beginning in 2001, when the NSW Police used drug dogs for early operations. The gay clubs on Oxford Street were regularly targeted… What had been a place owned by the community, increasingly felt like a controlled space, and was a factor that lead to the downfall of that area”.

Mr Tregoning expressed his concerns to Sydney Criminal Lawyers® that the presence of sniffer dogs in the marshalling section of this year’s parade will lead to dangerous behaviour, such as ‘loading up’ on drugs. He feels police are creating distrust, and undoing the work undertaken over many years to build bridges between police and the LQBTIQ community.

“What the drug detection dog operations do is teach people not to trust police, they create antagony and mistrust within communities, including the gay and lesbian community… Police are there to take care of people, and yet the drug detection operations are doing the opposite. They’re taking away the opportunity for collaboration between community and the police,” he said.

“You need to cover them up or we’re taking the float down”

Decency Inspectors will again be present in the marshalling area of this year’s Mardi Gras, who have the job of deciding what event goers can and can’t wear. NSW Police corporate spokesperson for LQBTIQ people, Tony Crandell, admits that the decisions of these officers can be arbitrary.

“We are often asked what’s okay and what’s not, which is sometimes difficult to describe – when you see something offensive, you just know.”

In 2013, the Decency Inspection Team came under fire for demanding that members of the Leather Pride float, a staple of Mardi Gras, cover their backsides before being allowed to march in the parade.

“They said ‘we’ve got five of your boys in jocks and chaps,’” says the Sydney Leather Pride Association’s John-Bernard Tyndall. “And I went ‘it’s never been a problem before’. They turned around and said well it is a problem, it’s indecent, you need to cover them up or we’re taking the float down.”

Mr Tyndall told ABC News:

“I pointed out a couple of other floats that were going past which had less covered women on them, women with exposed breasts et cetera. And they basically said, well they’re women you’re men we have to draw a line somewhere.”

Mr Tyndall believes these inspectors are an example of over-policing, and that their decisions are arbitrary and gender biased.

“Two four six eight, gay is just as good as straight!”

It has been almost four decades since Sydney’s first Mardi Gras parade. On 24 June, 1978, a number of gay men, lesbians and transgender people met at Taylor Square to march down Oxford Street to protest against the government’s anti-homosexuality laws.

After a scuffle with police at Hyde Park, the group retreated to Kings Cross, where 53 people were arrested near Kings Cross Police Station. A week later, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper published the names and addresses of those arrested, causing many of them to lose their jobs and be evicted from their rental properties.

Thankfully, four decades later, Australia has become a more tolerant society when it comes to LQBTIQ people – and police no longer share the same hostile attitudes they once did. Years of work and cooperation have built bridges between the groups, but there is still work to do.

Last year, the City of Sydney Council voted unanimously to ask the NSW Parliament, NSW Police Force and Sydney Morning Herald to apologise to the victims of the first Mardi Gras. With the motion going before Parliament later this year, it is hoped that this long-overdue apology will finally become a reality.

Co-chair of the 78’ers, Steve Warren, told the Star Observer: “An apology from the NSW Government, and from Fairfax news, is something that many 78ers and the wider community have been calling for some time.”

To those attending this year’s Mardi Gras, stay safe, look after your mates and have a blast!

NSW Labor MP Jo Haylen has broken ranks with her party, calling on the Government and police to end the use of drug sniffer dogs, during a debate on health policy at the recent State Labor conference.

Ms Haylen, the member for Summer Hill, highlights the fact that sniffer dogs have proven to be ineffective in catching drug dealers; instead leading to risky behaviours such as ‘loading up’ before or during festivals – the opposite of the program’s original intentions.

“Sniffer dogs are ineffective,” she said during the conference.

“They’re wrong three quarters of the time, causing unnecessary interactions between police and young people.

“They scare young people into ingesting all of their drugs at once, and cause unnecessary over-doses.”

This is not the first time the state’s sniffer dog program has come under fire recently. Pressure has been mounting on the government to reform its drug strategy after the deaths of several festival patrons from loading up on ecstacy tablets.

Ms Haylen argues the government should instead be encouraging the use of amnesty bins and drug testing at Sydney music festivals, as ways of minimising harm.

“Rather than ruining lives with a criminal record or worse still, leaving people to take risks on their own, let’s be brave,” Ms Haylen said.

“Let’s make good evidence based public policy and once again make NSW a world leader when it comes to harm minimisation.”

Opposition health spokesman, Walt Secord, says Ms Haylen’s position does not represent ALP policy on the issue.

Tide Turning on Sniffer Dogs

Ms Haylen is just one of several NSW politicians to speak out against sniffer dogs in recent months. Earlier this year, Greens MPs David Shoebridge, Jenny Leong and Mehreen Faruqi signed an open letter calling on the government to allow pill testing at music festivals in place of sniffer dogs.

“This summer hundreds of police and many drug detection dogs will also attend music festivals. Despite the increased presence of drug detection dogs the facts remain the same: many of the young people attending music festivals will choose to take drugs. Policing has not, and will not, stop this.” the group wrote.

Other signatories include Dr Alex Wodak AM, President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation and Miles Hunt, Lawyer and co-founder of the UnHarm campaign group.

Reflecting on his time as Premier of NSW, Bob Carr wrote last year that sniffer dogs at train stations had been “an issue that worried me while I was in NSW politics… I did not think it was the best use of police time… I wanted them to do things like make public transport safe and clean up Cabramatta.”

As Premier, Mr Carr oversaw the establishment of the Kings Cross Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, making NSW a world leader in harm minimisation. Without condoning heroin use, experts have recognised the bold move’s contribution to the fall in heroin related deaths over the last decade. It is hoped that pill testing could have the same effect.

Sniffer Dogs in NSW

Under the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW), police have the power to use sniffer dogs in a number of places, including train stations and music festivals.

Although these measures were originally intended to help police catch drug suppliers, a 2006 review of the program found it had been ineffective in this regard. Instead “the use of drug detection dogs has led to public searches of individuals in which no drugs were found, or to the detection of (mostly young) adults in possession of very small amounts of cannabis.”

More recent statistics have shown over 60% percent of searches are the result of one of these ‘false-positive’ identifications, raising doubt as to whether sniffer dog identifications are enough to constitute the ‘reasonable suspicion’ required for a search.

Rather than act as neutral observers, a 2011 study found that drug detection dogs reacted heavily to the bias of their handlers – a possible explanation for the high rate of false detections. In terms of bias, statistics reveal that a passenger boarding a train at Redfern station in 2013 was 6.5x more likely to be searched for drugs than a passenger at Central station, even though searches at Redfern were less likely to result in a drug related offence.

Given the ineffectiveness of sniffer dogs in achieving the government’s intended objective – and the tragic consequences of dangerous behaviours such as loading up – it is hoped that more politicians will see sense and start focusing on harm minimisation measures rather than wholesale and counter-productive interferences in personal liberties.

It seems as though the media wants us to believe that drug use occurs mostly in ‘less affluent’ areas of Sydney, and in regional NSW.

But while those living in wealthy neighbourhoods might think drugs are associated with ‘poorer’ areas, data obtained by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) suggests that some of Sydney’s most prestigious suburbs have the highest rates of drug possession and supply.

Here’s a breakdown of drug activity by offence type and area:

Cannabis

SBS series Struggle Street sparked controversy last year after showing 21-year-old Mount Druitt local Billie-Jo Wilkie smoking cannabis while pregnant.

The confronting scene attracted many negative comments on social media about the residents of Mount Druitt, with one viewer posting: ‘Mt Druitt, a good reason for compulsory sterilisation.’

But it wasn’t Mt Druitt, or any other outer Sydney suburb, that topped the list for cannabis possession.

Rather, the Sydney Local Government Area (LGA) was in number one place with 1594.1 incidents involving cannabis use or possession per 100,000 population between October 2014 and September 2015; quadruple the state average of 357.6. It should be noted, however, that a significant proportion of those detected are likely to have been visiting the city from other areas.

Country areas such as Mildura, Walgett and Bourke also had high rates, at 850.3, 882.6 and 1123.2 per 100,000 population respectively.

Waverley LGA was also right up there, with 796.5 per 100,000. Waverley includes the iconic Sydney suburbs Bondi Beach, Tamarama and Bronte which, like the Sydney CBD, attract large number of visitors.

Trendy inner-west suburbs including Marrickville, Newtown, Surry Hills and Potts Point closely followed, with 710 incidents per 100,000 people.

By comparison, the Blacktown LGA, which includes Mount Druitt, recorded 497.2 incidents – not a great deal more than the state average.

Ecstasy

Ecstasy has featured heavily in the media in recent times after a number of tragic deaths at music festivals.

Some of Sydney’s most expensive suburbs recorded the highest rates of ecstasy use in the state. In North Sydney LGA, which includes Kirribilli, Milsons Point, Neutral Bay and Crows Nest, there were 228.9 recorded incidents of ecstasy use or possession per 100,000 population; well over the state average of 41.6.

The rate in nearby Randwick LGA was 145.7, while the rate in the Sydney City area was 564.1.

Not surprisingly, the Sydney Olympic Park area had some of the highest recorded incidents of ecstasy use/possession, at 135.4 per 100,000. This is partly attributable to festivals and public events being held at the Park – including the annual Stereosonic music festival, during which there were 221 drug-related arrests last year.

Cocaine

Cocaine is known as a drug of the wealthy – so it may come as no surprise that affluent areas, including the Wollahra, Waverley and Randwick LGA, reported the highest rates of cocaine use/possession; at 203.6, 112.3 and 91.1 per 100,000 population respectively; compared with the statewide average of 23.5.

Parramatta also reported high rates of cocaine use at 74.5 per 100,000 people.

By contrast, many rural and regional areas reported very low – and in some cases, zero – rates of cocaine use, which may be reflective of the high price commanded by the drug, as well as lack of supply in rural areas.

Ice / Methamphetamines

NSW is reported to be in the grips of an ‘ice epidemic’ – and the problem is said to be most prevalent in country areas.

This is indeed reflected in the BOCSAR statistics – with areas such as Cessnock, Goulburn, Forbes and Bourke having some of the highest recorded rates of amphetamine use anywhere in the state.

However, statistics suggest that Liverpool and the Sydney CBD also have high rates – at 209.7 and 655.3 per 100,000 respectively, compared with the statewide average of 121.6.

Randwick and Marrickville LGAs also reported high rates of amphetamine use – at 115.2 and 143.2 per 100,000 respectively.

Other Drug Offences

When it came to other drug crimes, the results were even more interesting.

The incidence of drug supply generally followed trends for possession of each of the respective drugs – i.e. areas that had high rates of cannabis possession also had high reported rates of people getting charged with supplying cannabis.

But other drug crimes, such as drug manufacture, were less predictable – while there were very few people charged with this offence in the inner city area (perhaps because most people would not manufacture in such a heavily populated area), regional centres such as Mudgee, Cobar and Nambucca reported the highest rates.

The Rockdale and Botany Bay LGAs also recorded some of the highest rates of drug importation – which is, of course, because those areas encompass Sydney Airport and Port Botany. Surprisingly, however, there were also high rates of drug importation in the Willoughby LGA – which generally has low crime rates.

What Do the Statistics Suggest?

Although statistics can’t always be relied upon, and can be skewed by a range of factors, the BOCSAR figures appear to confirm that drug use occurs everywhere – including in ‘safe’ and ‘affluent’ suburbs.

The figures suggest that it is inaccurate and unfair to stereotype particular areas and people as drug users or suppliers.