Aim: to estimate the costs to the criminal justice system in NSW that may be directly attributed to cannabis use under the existing policy framework.

Changes to the legislative status of cannabis are frequently proposed, however to date the debate is often emotive, or simply focuses on single issues such as liberty and harm, the number of cannabis users, or taxation losses. In the context of a larger project that is examining the societal costs and benefits of various cannabis policies, this presentation will report on costs to the criminal justice system in NSW related to cannabis offences within the substance-defined pathway.

Methods, results and the relevance of estimated costs for the larger project will be discussed. Results will include data on the number of police encounters (n=14,082), cautions, and court appearances (n=6,446). Cost estimates will include police costs, court and penalty costs.

Results to be presented will include costs by offence type, age category, whether the cannabis offence was the principle offence, and the number of concurrent offences and previous criminal record. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of the limitation of the data and implications for other policies.