Drug using, dealing hotspots across Victoria and greater Melbourne unveiled

Drug crimes have surged to a three-year high across Victoria, but dealers and users are increasingly flocking to one region. Find out where the drugs are in your suburb.

Drug users and dealers are flocking the southeastern suburbs, the latest crime data has revealed.

32,569 drug offences were recorded in the year to March 2025 — ranking at a three year high — according to data published by the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency.

And more than 10 pre cent of those drug crimes were recorded in Dandenong, Casey and Frankston alone.

Cannabis was crowned the states most popular drug, accounting for almost one in three instances of the state’s drug crime, followed by meth and prescription drugs.

Melbourne’s CBD unsurprisingly took the top spot for the most offences recorded, followed by Geelong.

In the regions, Shepparton and Mildura beat out Bendigo for the highest drug crime numbers.

See what drugs were most popular where.

Meth

Three in every five drug dealers and traffickers across the state were nabbed peddling meth, cementing the crystal substance as traffickers’ drug of choice.

Metropolitan meth dealers flocked to Melbourne, Dandenong and Geelong while regional dealers preferred Shepparton and Mildura, dethroning Bendigo as regional Victoria’s meth capital.

Users were caught 7053 times, a 21.9 per cent increase on 2024, and they tended to stick close to the state’s dealer hotspots.

Cannabis

Casey was revealed to be the marijuana mecca of the state, recording 81 cultivating and dealing offences.

The pot supply chain stemmed from the south eastern suburbs with Dandenong and Frankston also ranking in the top ten for pot cultivation, dealing and trafficking.

Stoners were most frequently caught blazing up in the city, Geelong and Dandenong.

Prescription

Despite prescription drugs being the state’s third narcotic of choice, only 2 per cent of all

dealers and traffickers were caught supplying them to Victorians.

Outside Melbourne’s CBD and Geelong, suburban users were caught most frequently in Dandenong, Casey and Knox.

230 users were caught in Latrobe, making it the only regional area to land in the top 20 for prescription drug use.

Ecstasy

Ecstasy dealers sticked close to their market, with the one in four nabbed in nightclub hotspots across Melbourne, Port Phillip, Kingston and Yarra.

Three quarters of all ecstasy offences were use and possession charges, with Melbourne recording 10 pr cent of the 989 possession charges.

GHB

Outside Melbourne and Geelong, GHB use was rampant across the southeastern suburbs, with 14 per cent of all GHB offences recorded in Port Phillip, Casey, Frankston and Dandenong.

The northern suburbs regions of Whittlesea, Darebin and Hume also charted in the top ten.

Latrobe was regional Victorias GHB hub, recording 48 possession and 16 dealing and trafficking offences.

Cocaine

Like ecstasy, you’ll find coke users and dealers near the city’s night-life hubs.

One in five cocaine offences were recorded in Melbourne, Port Phillip, Kingston and Yarra.

However, the cocaine trade also spread across the suburbs with Hume, Dandenong recording the most offences beside Melbourne.

Originally published as Drug using, dealing hotspots across Victoria and greater Melbourne unveiled