A survey of voters in five NSW seats found warnings and treatment referrals were preferable to sending people to court.
The survey was commissioned by Uniting Church-affiliated social justice and community services non-profit Uniting NSW, which runs the medically supervised injecting centre in Sydney's Kings Cross.
Advocates say criminalising drug possession is unfair, harmful, and unpopular. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)
Uniting NSW advocacy general manager Emma Maiden said the results sent the message criminalising drug possession was unfair, harmful, and unpopular.
"An overwhelming majority of voters don't support criminal sanctions against people who are found with a small amount of drugs and they don't support fining them either," she said.
"Voters want to see a more compassionate, health and evidence-based approach to drug use and possession."
Current laws stigmatised drug use, deterring users from treatment, and other states were moving forward with sensible policies, she said.
Victoria will begin a pill-testing trial in summer while Queensland and the ACT have fixed-site drug-checking services.
NSW has a diversion scheme allowing people caught with MDMA, cocaine, ice or heroin to be spared court.
Greens drug law reform spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann said in June the scheme was not working.
She cited NSW Police data that showed about eight per cent of people caught in possession had been offered diversion in the scheme's first three months.
The survey comes ahead of the NSW drug summit which opens on Friday.
It found more than 70 per cent of those polled in Premier Chris Minns' southern Sydney seat of Kogarah supported health and welfare rather than criminal responses to drug possession.
Bankstown, Penrith, Lismore and Tamworth voters were also surveyed.
Across the five seats, support for health and welfare responses was highest in Lismore (71 per cent) and lowest in Tamworth (59 per cent).
A survey has found people across NSW want a more compassionate approach to drug use and possession. (Jason O'BRIEN/AAP PHOTOS)
The summit, which will include regional hearings in Griffith and Lismore in November followed by Sydney hearings in December, mirrors a 1999 event that paved the way for the nation's first medically supervised injecting centre.
Medical experts, police and drug users will inform the summit on drug use, harms and responses.
The summit was a Labor commitment in the lead-up to the 2023 election when Mr Minns also ruled out decriminalising cannabis.
"We're not going to do that," Mr Minns told reporters in August.
"I'm not going to break an election commitment.
"There have been major changes in terms of access to medicinal cannabis ... the growth in that's been massive ... we're not going to curtail that," he said at the time.
NSW Young Labor called for cautious cannabis legalisation for adults before a parliamentary inquiry earlier in 2024.
Legalisation differs from decriminalisation, regulating the market including through licensing schemes similar to those the government is seeking for tobacco.
Ms Maiden urged the government not to take ideas off the table before the summit concluded.
"Communities across NSW are relying on their elected representatives to take this seriously and implement solutions," she said.
13°C