DRUG ARRESTS UP, BUT SUPPLY STAYS STRONG

POLICE in Australia made more drug-related arrests and detected more
clandestine amphetamine laboratories in the last financial year than
at any other time in the past decade.

But the quantity of drugs seized was 41 per cent lower than in the
previous year - leaving open the possibility that overall supply and
demand remain largely unaffected by law enforcement.

Australian Crime Commission statistics, to be released today, show
drug-related arrests across Australia in 2009-10 reached a decade-high
of 85,252.
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The data, compiled from state police, federal police and border
protection statistics, show that last year's arrests were partly
boosted by those linked to cocaine, which soared 46.7 per cent from
the previous year.

There was a big increase in cocaine-user arrests nationally, while
cocaine-provider arrests increased more modestly.

The report also suggests that vast quantities of illicit drugs
continue to flow freely over the nation's borders, a point highlighted
a fortnight ago by a joint parliamentary committee that called for an
overhaul of policing of Australia's ports.

Commission chief executive John Lawler told The Age : ''The reality is
that illicit drugs are getting into Australia undetected.''

The 7.8 tonnes of drugs seized in 2009-10 was significantly less than
in the year before, when slightly fewer arrests were made for
drug-related crimes. The weight of seized cocaine fell by one-third
and heroin by 49 per cent.

The total weight seized was also lower than the decade's median. The
report said fluctuations in the weight of seizures probably reflected
''the effect of unusually large seizures''.

The report also stated that:

* 59 per cent of all confiscated cocaine was seized in
Victoria.

* Only 196 people were arrested in Victoria for cocaine-related
offences, while authorities in New South Wales arrested 728.New South
Wales recorded the greatest rise in cocaine-related arrests, with 53.6
per cent more in 2009-10 than in the previous year.

* Mexico is still the primary reported source country for cocaine
arriving in Australia, but the report says Peru is increasing in prominence.

* Most of last year's arrests and seizures were marijuana-related, with
70 per cent of drug seizures involving cannabis. The drug accounts for
76 per cent of the total weight of all drugs seized in Australia in
2009-10.

* 694 clandestine drug laboratories were detected across Australia last
year, an increase of 55 per cent from 2008-09 and 245 per cent since
2000-2001. But arrests for amphetamine-type stimulants dropped 15 per
cent in 2009-10 compared to the year before.

* More steroids were seized in Australia than ever before.

Mr Lawler said it was hard to draw any simple conclusions from the
report, but stressed that it underlined the need to continue focusing
not only on supply and demand reduction but also on ''harm
reduction''.

Harm reduction strategies, such as the provision of sterile needles or
other public health programs, aim to minimise the impacts of drugs on
individuals, families and communities.

Mr Lawler said that the preparedness of some Australians to pay a
premium price for illicit drugs meant overseas suppliers would
continue to target the domestic market.

''We are a very affluent, wealthy society and we are a society that
clearly has an appetite for illicit drugs that causes huge damage to
the community,'' Mr Lawler said.