Four Ballarat suburbs responsible for more than half of region’s drug crimes

Ballarat’s drug arrests have increased by 26 per cent in the past year, with four suburbs accounting for more than half the region’s drug crimes.

The latest crime data shows nearly 450 drug arrests were made in Ballarat up to March 2025.

A drug arrest is made every 18 hours in Ballarat, with four suburbs responsible for more than half of all drug crimes in the area.

More than 440 drug arrests were made in Ballarat in the year to March 2025 — up 26 per cent from 2024 — according to data published by the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency.

Ballarat Central accounted for 1 out of every 4 drug related arrests, ranking at a five-year high for the suburb.

When combined with the other drug hotspots — Wendouree, Sebastopol, and Delacombe — these areas together were responsible for more than half of all drug crimes.

Cannabis was Ballarat’s drug of choice, with pot crimes accounting for one third of all drug crimes.

Two men even faced Ballarat’s court in January after allegedly trying to save a weed crop that was under threat from the Grampians bushfires.

Meth was the second most popular drug in the city, followed by prescription medications.

In December 2023 Matthew Piscopo, 22, who was under the influence of meth broke into a series of small business and even stooped to stealing from Ballarat’s library.

He was handed a six month prison term.

Matthew Piscopo, 22, was sentenced at Ballarat court for terrorising Ballarat businesses and stealing from a library.

In April, Wendouree man Bryce Matthew Stephens, 29, stayed awake for 13 days on a meth-fuelled bender took part in the violent ambush of a man on a Ballarat street. He pleaded guilty to recklessly causing serious injurty.

Another addict, 41-year-old Monique Fryers, was involved in a nightmarish kidnapping plot, hosting a man’s terrifying imprisonment in her own backyard. She pleaded guilty to false imprisonment.

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