How Aussies could soon be buying cocaine over the counter like alcohol if one Greens MP gets her way

Cocaine could become as readily available as alcohol under a new proposal that would see the illicit drug sold in a government-regulated market. 

NSW Greens MP and drug law reform spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann said Australia's zero-tolerance approach to drugs was costing taxpayers billions every year. 

Up to 3.3million bags of cocaine are bought off the black market every year in Australia despite the country waging a war on drugs. 

Ms Faehrmann told Channel Nine's Today that a regulated market would take billions out of the hands of cartels and provide people with better education. 

'Cocaine use is increasing, cocaine supply is increasing, we can't stop people using cocaine. That's for sure. I don't think it can get any worse,' she said. 

'We've waged the war against drugs now across the world for 50 years and more people are taking drugs than ever before and more drugs are being produced. 

'So I'm saying it's time for another approach, we need all options on the table.' 

In NSW, if a person is found with a personal quantity of cocaine or other illicit drug, police have the option of either letting them off with a fine or charging them. 

'Cocaine use is on the increase,' Ms Faehrmann continued. 

'In places in the US it's increasingly being cut with things like fentanyl which can be up to 20, 30, 50 times stronger than heroin, it's deadly.'

She said when alcohol was illegal during the temperance movement in the 1910s and 1920s, highly dangerous and poisonous alcohol had been brewed. 

'Ideally it would be great if people didn't drink, because it's poison, and people didn't smoke cigarettes, but they want to, so we regulate it,' she said. 

'We should start thinking about that with currently illegal drugs like cocaine.'

In a statement, Ms Faehrmann said a regulated market would undercut the black market and drive organised drug gangs out of business. 

'A government-regulated market would also mean people would know what substances they were taking and had information about how to reduce harm. 

'Every day governments sit back and pretend the war on drugs is working, they're allowing crime gangs to continue to make billions while putting more lives at risk.'

Dan Howard SC, who led a NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into the drug 'ice' and other drugs on behalf of the previous government, told the ABC last year there is 'overwhelming' evidence cocaine should be decriminalised.

'Decriminalisation doesn't mean drugs are legal,' Prof Howard said last year. 

'It means if somebody is found in use or possession of drugs, the drugs will be confiscated, they will be referred to an education program or psychologist, addressing this whole issue of use and possession.'

Prof Howard noted there were an estimated 20,000 cases in the NSW local court system for personal drug use which he says is a waste of legal resources.

The 2023 World Drug Report, published by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, showed Australia and New Zealand are the 'highest worldwide' users of cocaine, with both supply and demand for the drug on the rise.

While the drug is a serious problem Australia-wide the 2022 National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program report found Sydney was the cocaine capital, with a whopping 800mg of cocaine use per 1,000 people per day on average.

In comparison to New South Wales, Brisbane and Melbourne used nearly half that amount at 450mg per 1,000 people per day.