It must have been an odd sight: the mass of cops in full riot gear making their way at pace along the quiet street in the early hours of the morning. Helmets, bullet proof vests, ballistic goggles—even a battering ram for the front door of the modest Narellan home, just outside of Sydney.

This article is part of High Season, VICE's newest series breaking down all the ways Australia's drugs laws are broken. Read the rest here .

You can hear an officer identify himself with a sharp knock: "Police search warrant! Open the door!”

No response.

“Police search warrant! Open the door!”

Time for the battering ram.

This was a drug raid, part of a coordinated effort across Sydney’s southwest—all captured on video, packaged up, and sent out to every journalist signed up for NSW Police media alerts.

These are easy stories. There are the flashy photos from the media conference, the drug haul piled high on the table. Usually there’s “vision”—video of the dramatic raids themselves, the arrests, dealers being piled into the backs of a divvy vans. And then there is the money, the police estimates of what the drugs would have fetched if they'd made their way onto the street; figures so high they make your eyes water.

It makes for an exciting addition to the 6 PM news. It does next to nothing to address Australia’s drug problem.

And that’s something that needs to be said up front: Australia does have a problematic relationship with drugs. We are some of the highest per capita drug users in the world. Illicit drugs land Australians in prison more than any other offence, save for assault. Drug-induced deaths have just hit their highest levels in 20 years—and increasingly legal opioids are to blame.

But whether you think the drugs themselves are the problem, or you see the laws we impose on drug use as the issue says a lot about how you see Australia in 2018.