Calls for decriminalisation of drug use and more harm-reduction policing approaches to improve user interactions

27th May 2026Sarah Gibbons, Contributing Editor, Policing Insight

A study into building procedural justice in street-level drug law enforcement in Australia suggests that the decriminalisation of drug use and possession offences, expanding harm reduction approaches, and giving all alleged offenders the chance to tell their side of the story, could help to build positive interactions between officers and people who use drugs, as well as increasing the willingness of users to co-operate with police and abide by the law, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

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Calls for decriminalisation of drug use and more harm-reduction policing approaches to improve user interactions

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