The illicit drug trade poses significant socioeconomic and health risks to the Australian public. The social burden that illicit drugs place on the community, and the long-term health consequences of their use, led to the development of the Australian Government’s National Drug Strategy.
We contribute to meeting the goals of the strategy by:
- providing leading-edge, coordinated national research and intelligence on illicit drugs and licit drugs that can be abused, through the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program
- identifying and improving understanding of drug markets and organised crime groups and criminal entrepreneurs that operate in those markets, to allow effective targeting and disruption by law enforcement agencies
- providing subject matter expertise to better inform policies and legislation at the state and national levels
- developing intelligence products that identify market trends and new methodologies being employed by organised crime groups and recommend responses that harden the operating environment for those groups
- providing intelligence to inform operational activity targeting illicit drugs.