The Department of Home Affairs has released a new multi-agency drug action plan to target the supply and consumption of illicit drugs in Australia.
Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton said the Home Affairs Illicit Drugs Action Plan was needed to stem the damage that drugs cause to Australian lives and communities.
He said Australians were consuming more than 15 tons of illicit drugs each year – worth more than $9.3 billion at street value.
“The Home Affairs Illicit Drugs Action Plan is the first of its kind,” Mr Dutton said.
“It coordinates our portfolio’s efforts to drive a stake through the heart of organised crime by targeting the supply of illicit drugs,” he said.
The Minister said the plan would incorporate Australian Border Force, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Australian Federal Police, the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.
“Through this plan, the Home Affairs Portfolio will work with State counterparts at all levels, our international partners, the private sector and the community to thwart a common, abhorrent enemy who unashamedly profits from the misery of others,” said Mr Dutton.
He said the plan would be spearheaded by the Commonwealth Transnational, Serious and Organised Crime Coordinator (TSOC) and would focus on the trade of methylamphetamine and its crystalline form, commonly known as ‘ice’.
“The plan will help marshal intelligence efforts, law enforcement activities and awareness, education and treatment initiatives to tackle the full-spectrum of the illicit drug life-cycle: demand, manufacture, importation, domestic trafficking, criminal profit and public consumption,” he said
The 13-page Home Affairs Illicit Drugs Action Plan can be accessed at this PS News link.