Drug offences in the Hunter Region have soared over the past decade, as the NSW government continues to fight the unwinnable drug war

The incidents of drug offences in the Hunter Region rose from 1689 in 2012 to 3269 this year - a rise of 94 per cent, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data shows.

The rate of drug offences per 100,000 people almost tripled in Port Stephens and more than doubled in Lake Macquarie, Singleton, Upper Hunter and Muswellbrook, and rose by 63 per cent and 45 per cent in Newcastle and Maitland over the decade.

In the wealthy Sydney areas of Mosman, North Sydney, Lane Cove and Northern Beaches, drug offences fell or remained stable over that time.

The data shows police have not been detecting drug use in the wealthier Sydney areas as often as they do in areas like the Hunter.

The figures included offences for use/possess drugs including cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin and other drugs.

They include offences for dealing/trafficking and manufacturing drugs, but most of the offences are for use/possess drugs.

A bureau spokeswoman said the use/possess drugs offence "tends to be those detected by police rather than reported".

"Therefore the counts/rates shown may be more indicative of policing operations rather than the incidence of those particular offences."

Greg Chipp, managing director of Drug Policy Australia, said the war on drugs was actually a "war on drug users".

Those affected were often from "the vulnerable, lower socioeconomic groups that don't have access to good lawyers".

He said Indigenous youth was one group that unfairly suffered in the drug war.

And while the poor were more likely to face criminal action, drug use was "pretty constant across all socioeconomic groups".

Mr Chipp said the prohibition on drugs, instigated by the United States under presidents Nixon and Reagan, was a "failed policy on so many levels".

"It's now ironic that the drug war is beginning to be seriously questioned in the US, but not so in Australia where we have doubled down our efforts in a number of ways," he said.

He said a "legalised, regulated drug system" should replace the criminalisation of people who use drugs.

"Criminalisation isn't stopping people using drugs," he said.

He added that the damage done to drug users and their families "when a child, sibling or partner goes to jail and loses economic opportunities is a generational problem with a massive social cost".

He said the drug war sustained organised crime, with the trafficking of illegal drugs enabling criminal syndicates to become well-financed and "go into cybercrime, kidnapping and all sorts of other crimes".

"The truth is the drug war is undermining the very essence of civilised, democratic society. Tens of billions of dollars go into untaxed, renegade, outlaw criminal groups."

Dr Alex Wodak, the Australia 21 chairman, said the decades-long drug war "over-emphasised law enforcement and under-emphasised health treatment and harm reduction".

He said death, disease, violence, corruption and crime had increased over the more than 50 years "we've been waging a war against drugs".

"The politicians at a high level know this doesn't work, hasn't worked and can never work. Portugal decriminalised all drugs in 2001. Uruguay was the first country in the world to legalise cannabis and start regulating that in 2013. Canada was the first G7 country to do the same in 2018."

In the US, some say the end of the drug war is in sight. Eighteen of 50 states have legalised the recreational use of cannabis.

Oregon became the first state in the US to decriminalise the possession of all drugs in November last year.

"The idea is definitely spreading," Dr Wodak said.

He cited other issues such as marriage equality and voluntary assisted dying.

"Once a reform starts and one or two jurisdictions do it, it continues to trickle away for a few years, then the speed of acceptance increases. First it's a trickle, then it's a flood."

Nonetheless, the war on drugs and the taboo on plants such as cannabis remain in Australia.

A petition lodged with the federal government in October called for cannabis to be legalised for personal, medical and industrial use.

"The legal sale of cannabis would be a significant financial boon both to private citizens who choose to enter the industry and the government which can and should tax it," the petition stated.

It asserted that Australians would "embrace the $20 billion-plus market of recreational cannabis tourism".

In response, federal health minister Greg Hunt said last month the government did not support "any measure that could imply that illicit drugs are safe, or may increase their availability or consumption".

"The use of any illicit drug in any quantity is a high-risk activity."

Dr Wodak believes drug prohibition will end in Australia at some point.

"It'll happen here for sure. The question is when and how far our political leaders will go," he said.

"We'll probably see many small changes, rather than a few big changes. We will inevitably see removal of all the criminal and civil sanctions for the possession and use of drugs."

The NSW government has been repeatedly urged to act on an inquiry into the drug ice, which last year recommended drug decriminalisation. It has ruled out decriminalising drugs, but discussed a proposal for more warnings and fines and strengthening diversion of drug-related offenders away from courts and into treatment.

NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman said the "use of illicit drugs is a continuing scourge on our communities, causing serious health and community safety issues across NSW".

"The government's response to the ice inquiry remains under active consideration."

Mr Speakman has also said that drug addicts require a health response.