How NSW drug offences are structured
Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW): s 10 (possession), s 23 (cultivation), s 24 (manufacture), s 25 (supply), s 25A (ongoing supply), s 29 (deemed supply); Schedule 1 sets the quantity thresholds — small, traffickable, indictable, commercial and large commercial — for each prohibited drug. Importation is Commonwealth territory: Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), Division 307.
Almost everything in NSW drug law turns on two questions: what was the conduct (possessing, supplying, manufacturing, cultivating) and what was the quantity. The same drug attracts a completely different legal world at different weights — the difference between a Local Court fine and a District Court trial can be a matter of grams. The single most important early task in any drug matter is testing whether the prosecution has the quantity, and the conduct, right.
One trap deserves naming up front: under section 29, possessing more than the traffickable quantity is deemed supply — the law presumes you held it for supply unless you prove otherwise. People are routinely charged with supply who never sold anything. That presumption can be rebutted, and challenging deemed-supply charges is core work for this practice.
Find your charge
Drug Supply
Supply, ongoing supply and deemed supply under s 25 — the quantity tiers, the deeming trap, and how supply charges are defended and negotiated.
Importation & Trafficking
Commonwealth border-controlled drug charges — AFP and Border Force investigations, marketable and commercial quantities, and why these matters differ from NSW supply.
Drug Manufacture
Manufacture and production under s 24, precursor offences, and the evidence battles that decide clandestine-laboratory prosecutions.
Cannabis Cultivation
Cultivation under s 23 — plant-count tiers, enhanced indoor cultivation, and the line between personal use and commercial growing.
Drug Premises
Organising, using or allowing the use of drug premises — including the exposure landlords and occupiers may not realise they carry.
Drug possession — the volume charge
Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW), s 10: it is an offence to have a prohibited drug in your possession. Maximum penalty: 2 years' imprisonment and/or a $2,200 fine (20 penalty units) — dealt with in the Local Court.
Possession is the charge most people meet first, and it is more defensible than most people assume. The prosecution must prove the drug was in your custody or control and that you knew it was there — knowledge is the element that fails in shared houses, borrowed cars and group settings. Police also hold discretion to deal with small-quantity possession by criminal infringement notice rather than charge, and for first offenders before the court, a non-conviction order under section 10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act is a realistic objective. Every matter turns on its own facts — but a possession charge is rarely a foregone conclusion, and it should never be pleaded by default.
Drug driving and roadside tests — what the detection windows actually mean
The most-searched drug questions in NSW are about detection: how long cocaine or MDMA stays in your system for a roadside test. The factual answers are public pharmacology — oral-fluid tests typically detect cocaine for roughly 24–48 hours and MDMA for roughly 24–72 hours after use, with wide variation between individuals, doses and devices. THC can be detected well beyond any period of impairment.
But the detection window is the wrong thing to plan around, and here is why: the NSW offence is presence-based, not impairment-based. Under section 111 of the Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW), driving with any detectable trace of an illicit drug is an offence — the prosecution does not need to show you were affected, and the variability of detection windows means no one can reliably predict when they will test clean. The only legally safe position is not to drive after using illicit drugs at all. If you have already returned a positive test, the live questions are different ones: whether the sampling, laboratory analysis and certification were done strictly to procedure, what happens to your licence, and whether a first offence can be dealt with without conviction. Those are the questions our drink and drug driving page deals with in full.
The Drug Court and diversion — the under-used pathways
NSW runs genuine alternatives to conventional sentencing for drug-dependent offenders, and they are chronically under-used because people do not know to ask early enough.
- The Drug Court of NSW takes eligible offenders whose offending is driven by dependency into a judicially supervised treatment program — typically twelve months or more of treatment, testing and report-backs — with completion substantially reshaping the sentencing outcome. Eligibility turns on the offence type, your circumstances and catchment area, and referral happens at the start of proceedings, not the end.
- The MERIT program (Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment) operates in the Local Court for less serious matters — a voluntary treatment program run before sentence, with participation reflected in the outcome.
- Cannabis cautioning gives police discretion to caution rather than charge for small quantities of cannabis, in defined circumstances.
Whether a diversion pathway is open is one of the first things we assess in any drug matter — it can change the entire trajectory of a case, and the window to raise it is early.
How Lenz Legal approaches drug charges
Drug prosecutions are built on searches, surveillance, telephone intercepts, certificates of analysis and presumptions — every one of which has formal requirements that can be tested. The method is constant: get the brief early, test the lawfulness of the search, test the quantity and the analysis, test the deeming, and only then decide between a defended hearing, negotiation to a lesser charge or quantity tier, a diversion pathway, or a plea prepared to protect your record. Every matter turns on its own facts.
Drug offences — your questions answered
How long does cocaine stay in your system for a roadside test?
Roughly 24–48 hours in saliva, though the window varies widely with the person, the dose and the device — which is exactly why it cannot be planned around. The NSW offence is presence-based: any detectable trace while driving is an offence under s 111 of the Road Transport Act, with no impairment required. If you have tested positive and been charged, the questions that matter now concern the testing procedure and your licence — get advice before your court date.
What happens at the Drug Court?
Eligible offenders whose offending is driven by dependency enter a judicially supervised treatment program — typically twelve months or more, with regular testing and report-backs to the court — and successful completion substantially changes the sentencing outcome. Eligibility depends on the offence, your circumstances and the catchment area, and referral happens at the start of proceedings, so it must be assessed early.
Is drug possession a criminal record?
A conviction for possession is a criminal record — but a charge is not a conviction. Police can deal with small-quantity possession by criminal infringement notice, and for many first offenders the court can make a non-conviction order under section 10. Every matter turns on its own facts.
Can I avoid a conviction for first-offence possession?
Often, realistically, yes — small-quantity possession by a first offender is among the situations where section 10 non-conviction orders are most commonly made, particularly with good character evidence and demonstrated steps since the charge. It is not automatic, and preparation matters. Every matter turns on its own facts.