The Insos Law, which is set to come into effect in February 2019, aims to crack down on people using illegal drugs.
The legislation is designed to target organised crime and has been hailed by anti-drug campaigners as a huge step forward in tackling the scourge of illegal drugs in Australia.
Its aim is to provide greater public safety and tackle organised crime by providing more money for frontline drug treatment, and making it easier for drug users to access a drug court.
Under the Insos laws, anyone caught using or manufacturing a controlled drug, as well as anyone who sells a controlled substance, could face jail terms of up to seven years and/or fines of up $25,000.
In recent years, the Government has seen a dramatic increase in drug offences, with about 7,500 drug users arrested across Australia in 2015, more than double the number recorded in 2010.
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, there were about 733,000 people arrested in the country in 2015.
There have been an estimated 2,500 deaths linked to drugs in 2016, which was the highest in recorded history.
“It is a big blow to the organised crime element,” Senator Cory Bernardi, who has campaigned for changes to the InsOS laws, said.
He said that as a result, people were now “turning to crime, because it is cheaper and easier to get drugs in the first place”.
“We’re not going to get to the point where the drug use is going to be as high as it used to be, so the cost of this will be higher than it would be otherwise,” he said.
“And that’s the problem.”
What is the Insoses law?
The Insos legislation is a landmark move in Australia’s drug laws.
It is the result of the Government’s comprehensive national drug strategy, which aims to tackle the nation’s drug problem by reducing drug use.
Drug laws are often controversial, with some arguing that the Government is making them too lenient for people who don’t have a criminal record.
But it has also been hailed as a significant step in tackling organised crime.
Australia has the second highest number of drug-related deaths in the world after Colombia.
Currently, there are about 2,000 drug-users and addicts in Australia, with many of them struggling to pay for treatment.
Last year, about 200,000 Australians died from drug overdoses, according to the Federal Government.
Over the last decade, the number of Australians with drug use disorders has increased, with an estimated 1.8 million Australians suffering from a drug use disorder.
Senator Bernardi said that the Insosures law had been one of the biggest changes to Australian drug laws in decades.
“[It] is a huge blow to organised crime, and to the drug-using element,” he told ABC Radio.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said the Insomes laws were a “significant step forward for public safety” and were “designed to target the most serious organised crime elements”.
Topics:law-crime-and-justice,drug-offences,drugs,drugpolicy,crime,drugabuse,public-sector,government-and the-provinces,australia