An independent MP has suggested minor cannabis possession should be decriminalised in Tasmania, arguing police are too stretched to keep pursuing low-level drug offences.
Helen Burnet made the suggestion following the release of an independent review into the role of Tasmania Police.
Burnet noted the review found operational dispatches had increased by 40,000 incidents over the past decade, while family violence callouts had risen by 250%.
She said each of those incidents could take up to eight hours of an officer’s time.
“[The report] confirms what we already suspected. Cuts to other government services are pushing more demand onto police,” she said.
“It’s the same picture playing out in our emergency departments and hospitals.”
Burnet said the review examined how police could do more with less, but did not ask whether they should be handling low-level offences at all. The review made no mention of cannabis.
Burnet said Tasmania Police proceeded against 1,300 people for minor cannabis offences in 2024-25, accounting for about 16% of all offenders caught that year.
She said modelling by the Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office showed Victoria Police spent roughly 56,800 hours a year enforcing cannabis laws.
“There is no reason to think it is any less significant here,” she said.
“If we’re serious about freeing up police to focus on the high-harm issues our community actually worries about, decriminalising minor cannabis possession is an obvious place to start.”
“It’s time we had that conversation.”
Health Minister and Acting Premier Bridget Archer told Pulse the government was continuing to take a harm-minimisation approach.
“Our focus remains on harm minimisation and supporting actions under the three pillars of supply, demand and harm reduction,” Archer said.
