Nicholas Cowdery, a former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, told an NSW parliamentary inquiry on August 1 that action was needed now to decriminalise cannabis use.
He said most people using cannabis 鈥渓ead ordinary lives and do not experience drug dependency鈥.
Cowdery, a former president of the (NSWCCL) said it had long believed that criminal law is 鈥渋ll-suited to deal with drug use in the community鈥.
Every year in NSW more than 700,000 people 鈥渇rom all walks of life鈥 use cannabis, Cowdery said.
鈥淭here is consistent evidence that decriminalisation doesn鈥檛 encourage cannabis use or increase cannabis taking in the community,鈥 he said, adding that decriminalisation 鈥渕ay have the opposite effect鈥 as more people access advice, support and treatment if they need it.
People with problematic drug use needed a health and social support response rather than a criminal justice one, he added.
Commenting on NSW Labor鈥檚 recent drug summit announcement, he said it was good to see it honour an election promise but 鈥渨e need action now鈥.
The NSWCCL is concerned that the 鈥渦nacceptably high level of First Nations people in custody鈥 and the over-policing of First Nations people means that will not change without a new approach to drug laws.
The average imprisonment rate of First Nations people in NSW is 1839 for each 100,000 people 鈥 almost 14 times the rate for non-First Nations people.
Statistics from last year show that NSW police are more likely to pursue charges for minor cannabis offences if the person is First Nations: 43.9% of non-First Nations people were cautioned, compared with 11.7% of First Nations people.
聽鈥淭he appalling overrepresentation of First Nations people in the criminal justice process in comparison to the general population is a crisis that successive governments have lumped into the too-hard basket,鈥 Cowdery said.
鈥淏urdening the courts with the resulting charges is a waste of public resources and has a detrimental effect on thousands of First Nations People and their families in NSW each year.鈥澛
Cowdery said 鈥渃losing the gap on this appalling disparity鈥 means leaders must focus on harm-minimization and community-led solutions.
鈥淭he community experiences little benefit from the attempt to reduce the prevalence of a substance that remains so widely available, despite its illegality. An anomalous situation exists whereby cannabis, an arguably less dangerous drug, is illegal and more dangerous drugs such as tobacco and alcohol are legal and regulated.鈥
The NSWCCL cited the latest national drug strategy household survey which found that support for the legalisation of cannabis has increased to 45% and the proportion of people who say that possession of cannabis should not be a criminal offence reached an .
NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns said on July 1聽, claiming this was an election commitment.