Chris Minns’ Labor government has finally announced it will hold its promised NSW Drug Summit, comprising a four-day forum with two regional dates set for October, along with two dates of hearings in Sydney over December 4 and 5.

Minns delayed the summit after the Daily Telegraph, last year, asked him questions about the ACT’s drug decriminalisation roll-out and he asserted he had “no mandate” to progress such a reform.

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“The Drug Summit was an election commitment,” the government said on July 12. “It will bring together medical experts, police, people with lived and living experience, drug user organisations, families, and other stakeholders to provide a range of perspectives and build consensus on the way NSW deals with drug use and harms.”

Such a thorough meeting brings an expectation for progressive drug law reform. There is also a precedent. Former Premier Bob Carr’s 1999 NSW Drug Summit brought serious change, including trialling the now permanent medically-supervised injecting room in Kings Cross.

Since last August, the NSW government had been dragging its feet on the summit. Much of the credit for getting it to announce dates goes to the Uniting Church.

What sort of drug law reforms are likely to be on the agenda at the 2024 NSW Drug Summit?

The changes sought are focused on people who use drugs, not cultivators, manufacturers or suppliers, because illicit drug use should be treated as a health issue........

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