But despite a spike in arrests for drug possession, arrests for dealing and trafficking in cocaine and ice remained stable, while the overall number of arrests for importing drugs dropped by 45 per cent. The deputy director of the Sydney Institute of Criminology, Dr Garner Clancey, said the crackdown on drugs was targeted towards individual users, rather than dealers and traffickers. "It is highly likely that proactive policing has increased, resulting in greater police interaction with people in possession of small quantities of these drugs," he said. "The chances are that people who are not normally caught up in the criminal justice system, those who use drugs for personal use, are more likely to be caught out by initiatives such as road-side drug testing". So far this year, one in every 10 road-side drug tests has returned a positive reading, but the tests only detect the presence of ecstasy (MDMA), cannabis and amphetamines and do not look for drugs that are still active in a person's system.

"Road-side drug testing, use of drug detection dogs, stop and search and proactive policing of major music, sporting and entertainment events and the like might be responsible for the increased detection of these [drug possession] offences," said Dr Clancey. Arrests for cocaine possession increased by more than 50 per cent across the state with more than half of the increase attributed to increased detections in Parramatta, the CBD and Sydney's eastern suburbs. However, BOSCAR director Don Weatherburn said the use of ice was the primary drug of concern. "Every part of the state is affected but some of the biggest increases have occurred in regional NSW, with first-time arrests increasing by more than 70 per cent in the... areas of Coffs-Harbour-Grafton; the Shoalhaven; the Far West and Orana; and the Murray". Over 8000 were arrested across the state for use or possession of methamphetamines in the 12 months to June 2015, an increase of nearly 40 per cent on 2014 figures.

Despite the surge in arrests for methamphetamine use across the state, crimes traditionally linked to increased use of the drug actually dropped. "Robbery and non-domestic assaults actually dropped while methamphetamine use increased yet again", Dr Weatherburn said. "This creates a huge, and very interesting puzzle". "When the heroin epidemic of the '80s and '90s hit Sydney we saw a massive rise in arrests for burglary and assault and we expected to see a really similar result in regards to methamphetamine this time around". "My guess would be that methamphetamine users could be paying for drugs out of their legal incomes," he said. "But how long will that last for?"