Nicholas Cowdery
Nicholas Cowdery AO KC is a former Director of Public Prosecutions for NSW and a former President of the International Association of Prosecutors. He favours the controlled legalisation of drugs so as to drive criminal profits and consequent violence and criminality out of the market.
Nicholas's recent articles
29 October 2024
NSW Drug Summit Mark II
The NSW Drug Summit in 1999 produced mostly modest outcomes, sidestepping some difficult but important issues. The prospects now for beneficial change should be better with the evidence gathered in the last 25 years – but are they?
25 October 2022
Drug decriminalisation is not (yet) legalisation
The ACT has decriminalised the possession of small quantities of some prohibited drugs. The Liberal Opposition in the ACT says this radical reform will lead to more crime in the Territory. It will be chaos. The AFP worries that they will be busier. So why is this a move in the right direction that should be followed across the country?
6 July 2022
Back to first principles on drugs
Just why is it so hard for politicians to see a better way forward in dealing with drugs in the community and to act on that vision? It is not for lack of evidence of what works to make things better and most of the community knows that.
30 September 2020
If crime is falling, why is imprisonment rising?
The Australian prison population has doubled since 2000 and recidivism is at 55%. Yet almost all categories of crime have fallen in the past decade. Why do we spend $3.6 billion a year (and rising) on a system across Australia that is clearly not serving us well or making us safer? There are alternatives available, as the Justice Reform Initiative [JRI] explains.