Drug strategy

Learn about the Victoria Police drug strategy which aims to improve health and community safety by reducing harm from illicit drugs.

A five-year strategy that aims to improve health and community safety by reducing individual and community harm from illicit drugs.

The Victoria Police Drug Strategy 2020-2025

Victoria Police Drug Strategy 2020-2025
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Victoria Police has an unwavering commitment to minimising the impact of drugs in the community and improving the health and safety of all Victorians – drug use and associated
crime cause significant harm to individuals and their families. The whole community is affected when a drug user inflicts harm on others from their poor decision-making. Drug-fuelled behaviours include:

  • violence
  • burglaries
  • thefts committed to support an addiction
  • drug-related road trauma
  • family violence
  • sexual assaults.

The strategy sets the direction for Victoria Police’s current and future drug policing approach across four pillars:

  • prevention
  • disruption and supply reduction
  • treatment and support
  • harm reduction.

Under the strategy, Victoria Police will focus on the drugs causing the most harm within the community, arrest and prosecute drug dealers, disrupt drug networks, and work with the community and our partners to ensure those suffering from addiction are connected to appropriate treatment and support services.

Key initiatives

The strategy will be supported by an action plan with proposed initiatives focusing on incorporating dedicated drug investigators throughout metropolitan and regional Victoria,
ensuring adaptive and contemporary responses to drug policing, and strengthened relationships and co-responses with partner agencies and community.

Victoria Police will continue to regularly review and readjust its approach throughout the next five years, ensuring police are equipped to carry out contemporary drug policing best
practice.

Updated