Police in the ACT are dealing with a record number of illicit drug offenders, bucking a national trend that has seen two straight years of decline.
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Australian Bureau of Statistics figures from the past 10 financial years show police took action against 609 illicit drug offenders in 2017-18. Court action was taken against 221 of those.
This was more than double the 302 total illicit drug offenders Canberra police took action against in 2008-09, when the statistics began being recorded and 158 were taken to court.
An ACT Policing spokesman said one of the reasons behind the increase in illicit drug offenders was a population increase of about 21 per cent in the 10 years to 2017-18.
"Whilst there has been an increase of drug offenders in the ACT, an increasing proportion of these offenders have been referred to drug diversion programs," the spokesman said.
"This is a key aspect of the overall harm reduction supported by ACT Policing and other government agencies."
The increase in illicit drug offenders in Canberra has been particularly noticeable in the last two fiscal years, increasing by 197 offenders between 2015-16 and 2017-18 and flying in the face of a nationwide trend.
Across Australia, police took action against 78,167 offenders in relation to illicit drugs last financial year. This represented a second straight year of national decline and a drop of 2993 offenders, or 4 per cent, from 2016-17.
“Over the past couple of years we’ve seen a decrease in the principal offence of illicit drugs, with most offenders proceeded against for possession or use of drugs rather than the more serious offences of dealing, trafficking, or manufacturing,” Australian Bureau of Statistics crime and justice statistics director William Milne said.
“Even with this decrease, illicit drug offences remain one of the most common types of crimes for offenders in Australia.”
In the ACT last financial year, cases involving illicit drug offenders made up 18.5 per cent of those taken to court by police.
According to National Criminal Intelligence Commission wastewater analysis, methylamphetamine is Canberra's most popular drug, with about 22 doses taken per 1000 people each day in August 2018.
The local increase in crimes involving illicit drugs comes as Pill Testing Australia prepares to run a significantly larger pill-testing trial at the sold-out Groovin the Moo music festival on April 28. Australia's first pill-testing trial took place at the same event last year and was deemed a success.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows the overall number of police proceedings in the ACT has remained stable, reaching 3567 in 2017-18 after a year-on-year increase of just eight.
But while there was stability across the board, police took record numbers of offenders charged with weapons or explosives offences, and fraud or deception, to the ACT's courts in 2017-18.
Court action was taken against 161 weapons or explosives offenders last financial year – 19 more than the previous high in 2015-16. Police took fraud or deception offenders to court 114 times in 2017-18.
In positive news for the ACT, it recorded the lowest rate of domestic violence-related offenders in Australia. Police took action against 591 domestic violence offenders in 2017-18, at a rate of 164 offenders per 100,000 people.
The data also reveals acts intended to cause injury comprised 27.6 per cent of the cases police took to ACT courts in 2017-18. It has been the most common crime category in the territory in each of the past 10 financial years.
Theft offenders were taken to court at the second greatest rate, at 14.7 per cent, with those in the offences against justice category third at 10.2 per cent.
The number of offenders aged between 10 and 17 in the ACT remained stable last financial year, falling by less than 1 per cent.
At the same time, the number of Indigenous offenders in Canberra increased by 20 – a 7 per cent jump. People aged under 25 made up 42 per cent of Indigenous offenders.
