Overview
- Labor accepted 50 of 56 drug‑summit recommendations and acknowledged four, but it refused to end sniffer dogs and strip‑searches and did not support expanding supervised injecting centres beyond one.
- The proposed legal defence for prescribed cannabis patients was not adopted, with the government investigating options and citing evidence that THC can impair driving and features in about 16% of fatal crashes.
- NSW will run a large pill‑testing trial at music festivals this summer for tens of thousands of attendees, while police maintain dogs and strip‑search powers and move dogs away from pill‑testing entrances.
- Ministers committed to a 10‑year alcohol and other drug strategy and pledged to improve the consistency of diversion schemes such as the Early Drug Diversion Initiative.
- A recent Supreme Court ruling awarded Raya Meredith $93,000 over an unlawful festival strip‑search, intensifying scrutiny of policing practices at events.