AFP deputy police commissioner Neil Guaghan is sceptical about decriminalising drugs

Decriminalising the personal use of hard drugs and legalising the sale of cannabis does not work and can be disastrous for entire cities, according to one of country’s most senior police officers.

Neil Gaughan hasn’t liked what he’s seen in other cities which have decriminalised drugs. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

Decriminalising the personal use of hard drugs and legalising the sale of cannabis does not work and can be disastrous for entire cities, one of the country’s most senior police officers said.

AFP deputy police commissioner Neil Guaghan said he had just witnessed the effects of those policies on a fact-finding mission to North American states which had relaxed drug laws.

The trip was prompted by the ACT’s Labor-Greens government sneaking through major reforms which will decriminalise hard drugs like ice and cocaine from October.

“From what I saw over there, it is not working,” Mr Guaghan said, in comments which put him at direct loggerheads with the government in the ACT where is also chief police officer.

“In February I toured Portland, San Francisco and Vancouver who have all decriminalised the personal use of hard drugs ... what I saw was not pretty,” Mr Guaghan said.

Neil Gaughan is sceptical about the new law. Picture: Kym Smith

“I saw in the states people smoking crack in the streets and the cops are turning a blind eye to that usage. Cops are walking around giving people a nudge to make sure they are not dead.

“We won’t be tolerating drug users in the street or in clubs. We will be seizing drugs and if anyone has anything that looks slightly more than what’s allowed we will lock them up for supply.”

Mr Gaughan dismissed comments by Greens senator David Shoebridge, who told budget estimates in March the government could make $28b in revenue over 10 years if cannabis was legal and is proposing to put a bill before parliament to that effect.

“Mr Shoebridge is being totally unrealistic if he thinks that will work,’’ Mr Guaghan said.

“In Portland they have legalised cannabis, interestingly enough the government is selling it and not making any money because the black market is undercutting them. The government put a limit on the level of THC in cannabis so the crooks sell it cheaper and you get a bigger high for less.”

The Minns government has called a “drug summit” for NSW where it’s expected they will come under pressure to ease drug laws here.

Attorney-General Michael Daley said: “the drug summit is an opportunity to gather advice from legal professionals, health experts, police, academics, support services, families and other stakeholders to inform a pragmatic and evidence-based approach to drug policy.”

David Shoebridge said the government could make $28b in revenue over 10 years if cannabis was legal. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

A date has not been set for the summit.

Mr Guaghan said the trip also brought him face-to-face with America’s crippling fentanyl and opioid crisis.

“A city like San Francisco has entire blocks that are literally no go zones. Whole neighbourhoods are boarded up with people walking around zombified.

“There is also a drug called tranq which is like a horse tranquilliser which is taking hold and eats away at the flesh, doing enormous damage.’’

Mr Gaughan said Australia has been spared the fentanyl problem only because of the profits being reaped by crime networks from cocaine and meth.

“My view is the syndicates are making that much money from cocaine and meth under their current business model, why would they change? I don’t expect we will see the fentanyl problem here for at least 12 months, and maybe not at all.

“We don’t have the endemic overprescription of opioids which has plagued the US for years and most of the fentanyl comes from Mexico and South America so we don’t have a proximity issue.”