Drug offences down 15% in criminal courts

The number of defendants who faced a drug offence charge in the criminal courts fell by 15 per cent to 31,383 defendants in the 2024–25 financial year, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

Samantha Hall, head of ABS crime and justice statistics, said: ‘Unlawful possession or use accounted for 70 per cent of the drug offences in court, and this offence fell 17 per cent from the previous year.’ 

Most states and territories had stable or declining numbers of defendants with drug offence charges. The biggest declines were in Queensland (down 42 per cent or 4,745 defendants) and Victoria (down 20 per cent or 930). There was a rise in defendants with drug offence charges in Western Australia (up 14 per cent or 981 defendants) and South Australia (up 11 per cent or 193).

Three-quarters of defendants facing drug offence charges were male (75 per cent), and the median age of defendants was 36.5 years. 

Almost all defendants with drug offence charges who received a court judgement had a guilty outcome (99 per cent). Over half of these guilty defendants (56 per cent or 16,039) received a fine as their principal sentence, while 11 per cent (3,151) were sentenced to custody in a correctional institution.

Nationally, the total number of defendants in criminal courts for all offence types increased by 1 per cent between 2023–24 and 2024–25.