How Aussies could soon be buying cocaine over the counter like alcohol if one Greens MP gets her way

Cocaine could become as easily available as alcohol under a new proposal that would ensure the illegal drug is sold in a government-regulated market.

N.S.W Greens MP and drug law reform spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann said Australia’s zero-tolerance approach to drugs was costing taxpayers billions every year.

Up to 3.3 million bags of cocaine are bought on the black market in Australia every year, despite the country waging a war on drugs.

Ms Faehrmann told Channel Nine’s Today that a regulated market would take billions out of the hands of cartels and provide people with better education.

‘Cocaine use is increasing, the cocaine supply is increasing, we cannot stop people from using cocaine. That’s for sure. “I don’t think it can get any worse,” she says.

Cocaine could become as easily available as alcohol under a new proposal that would see the illegal drug sold in a government-regulated market (stock image)

Ms Faehrmann said that when alcohol was illegal during the temperance movement in the 1910s and 1920s, very dangerous and poisonous alcohol was brewed

‘We’ve been waging a war on drugs around the world for 50 years now, and more people are using drugs than ever before and more drugs are being produced.

“So I say it’s time for a different approach, we need to have all options on the table.”

If someone in NSW is found with a personal quantity of cocaine or another illegal drug, police have the option of fining them or charging them a fine.

“Cocaine use is increasing,” Ms. Faehrmann continued.

“In places in the US it’s increasingly being adulterated with things like fentanyl, which can be 20, 30, 50 times stronger than heroin, it’s deadly.”

She said that when alcohol was illegal during the temperance movement in the 1910s and 1920s, very dangerous and poisonous alcohol was brewed.

“Ideally, it would be great if people didn’t drink because it’s poison, and people don’t smoke cigarettes, but they want to, so we regulate it,” she said.

“We have to think about that with today’s illegal drugs such as cocaine.”

NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann (pictured) said Australia’s zero-tolerance approach is costing taxpayers billions of dollars and wasting police resources

In a statement, Ms Faehrmann said a regulated market would undermine the black market and put organized drug gangs out of business.

‘A government-regulated market would also mean that people would know what substances they are using and have information on how to reduce harm.

“Every day that governments sit back and pretend the war on drugs is working, they allow criminal gangs to continue making billions while putting more lives at risk.”

Dan Howard SC, who led a NSW special commission of inquiry into the drug ‘ice’ and other drugs on behalf of the previous government, told the ABC last year there was ‘overwhelming’ evidence that cocaine should be decriminalised.

“Decriminalization does not mean drugs are legal,” Prof. Howard said last year.

‘It means that if someone is caught using or possessing drugs, the drugs are seized and referred to an educational program or psychologist, which addresses this whole issue of use and possession.’

An estimated 3.3 million bags of cocaine are purchased by Australians each year (stockpile)

Professor Howard noted that there are an estimated 20,000 cases in the NSW local justice system for personal drug use, which he said is a waste of legal resources.

The World Drug Report 2023, published by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, shows Australia and New Zealand are the ‘largest global’ users of cocaine, with both supply and demand for the drug rising.

Although the drug is a serious problem across Australia, the 2022 National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program report found Sydney was the cocaine capital, with an average of as much as 800mg of cocaine use per 1,000 people per day.

Compared to New South Wales, Brisbane and Melbourne used almost half that amount: 450 mg per 1,000 people per day.