Worst regions for drug trafficking and drug use in Victoria and greater Melbourne revealed

The latest suburban and regional drug hotspots which closely trail the CBD for meth, cannabis, GHB, cocaine and prescription drug crime have been unveiled. See how your suburb compares.

The latest crime data has unveiled Victoria’s drug hotspots for both dealers and users, where higher income areas are attracting the expensive narcotics pushers.

There were 28,770 drug offences recorded in the year to June 2024, according to data published by the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency on Thursday.

Melbourne’s CBD unsuprisingly took the cake for the most offences recorded, but the data also revealed the outer suburbs as drug hotspots.

LGAs in Melbourne’s southeast recorded a staggering number of drug offences, with both the City of Casey and Greater Dandenong racking up more than 1000 offences each.

The Cranbourne hub recorded 1182 total drug offences, ranking third in the state for drug trafficking offences and fourth for possession offences.

Next door, Dandenong ranked even higher, recording 1320 offences.

See whether your LGA falls in one of the hot spots.

METHAMPHETAMINE

Victorian drug dealers preferred meth as their narcotic of choice, with the highly addictive substance making up 34 per cent of all dealing and trafficking charges.

There were 1345 recorded meth dealing offences across the state, with Greater Bendigo beating Melbourne to the most offences.

Bendigo recorded 154 trafficking busts followed by Melbourne at 98 and Casey at 58.

Meth accounted for a further 24 per cent of drug possession offences in Victoria.

Almost 6000 meth possession offences were recorded with 392 occurring in Melbourne.

Geelong, Dandenong and Knox were also meth possession hotspots.

CANNABIS

Victorian stoners were busted most frequently, accounting for more than 30 per cent of all recorded possession offences.

The offences were spread evenly throughout Melbourne’s suburbs, with top five rankings in Hume, Casey, Brimbank and Greater Dandenong.

Regionally, Greater Shepparton, Mildura and East Gippsland each accounted for more than 130 offences.

Cannabis dealers and traffickers were also spread throughout Melbourne’s suburbia.

Casey trumped the CBD for trafficking offences, with nearly doubling the city’s count.

COCAINE

Party hotspots reigned supreme for cocaine dealer busts, with 56 offences recorded in the CBD.

The top ten was rounded out by council areas home to iconic night-life districts such as Stonnington’s Chapel St and City of Yarra’s Richmond precinct.

But Victoria’s 830 cocaine possession offences didn’t stick to the party strips, with users being caught throughout the suburbs.

Melbourne recorded the most offences, followed by Casey, Hume, Kingston and Dandenong.

Greater Geelong recorded the most regional offences with 28, followed by Shepparton and Ballarat.

GHB

GHB made up 11 per cent of all trafficking offences, with the local government areas of Melbourne, Whittlesea and Latrobe recording 463 between them.

Melbourne’s suburbs made up the majority of GHB possession, despite Geelong ranking second overall behind Melbourne.

Other hotspots included Casey, Frankston, Latrobe and Wyndham.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Prescription drug dealers and traffickers took their trade to Melbourne’s richest suburbs.

Stonnington — where locals earned more than $8.9bn combined according to the latest ABS figures — ranked in the top 10, as did other posh local government areas including Port Phillip, Moonee Valley and Kingston.

Melbourne city also sat at the top of the list for prescription drug trafficking and dealing offences.

But possession numbers ventured out of the inner suburbs, with Geelong and Dandenong ranking second and third respectively — behind Melbourne.

In total, more than 4500 prescription drug possession offences were recorded.

ECSTASY

Frankston and Knox recorded only a handful fewer ecstasy possession offences than Melbourne.

Geelong and Dandenong also made up the top five, which accounted for more than 30 per cent of all offences statewide.

Only 196 ecstasy trafficking or dealing offences were recorded.

Despite leading the possession statistics, only three trafficking offences were recorded in Frankston and one in Knox.