The NSW Government passed the Drug Supply Prohibition Order Pilot Scheme Bill 2020 on Thursday, providing police across the Hunter new powers to search the persons and properties of convicted drug dealers and manufacturers without a court warrant.
The powers will be also piloted in Bankstown Police Area Command and the Orana Mid-West and Coffs/Clarence Police Districts alongside the Hunter Valley.
Police Minister David Elliott said the legislation would help police crack down on criminal gangs which profiteered from the manufacturing and distribution of illegal substances.
"This is going to make the life of the drug dealer, the life of the drug manufacturer, just that little bit harder," Mr Elliott said.
"We're all about disrupting the drug trade."
"This legislation will trial if there's a convicted drug dealer out there and the police have enough evidence to suggest they have not learnt their lesson, they can search their cars and their homes and their premises whenever they need to, to ensure that drug trade is restricted."
A Drug Supply Prohibition Order may be issued by a court if police have reasonable grounds to suspect that evidence exists of drug-related crime.
Mr Elliott said it was a tool which would go a long way to deter drug crime in the community.
"The four trial areas have been decided upon because of the intelligence that we've been able to gather about the drug trade in those areas, but also we think it will be a fair reflection of the state's demographics," Mr Elliot said.
"We've got metropolitan, we've got regional, we've got areas like the Hunter and Western Sydney. I think that's going to give us a great example, a great sample of how effectively this new law will operate."
The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research will re-evaluate the legislation at the end of the two year pilot period, which is set to begin over the next couple of weeks.
