Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court

Drug courts treat offenders with a severe substance use disorder contributing to their offending behaviour. The Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court (QDAC) targets adult offenders to be supervised and undertake treatment to address their drug and/or alcohol dependency issues and criminal offending.

For more information about the Drug and Alcohol Court program, please access the QDAC Information Handbook.

Legislation framework

The legislative framework supporting QDAC is contained in Part 8A of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld) and integrates the principles of a drug court program into the existing sentencing framework for Queensland.

The making of a Drug and Alcohol Treatment Order (Treatment Order) is provided for at s151C of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 in order to facilitate the rehabilitation of participants by:

  • providing a judicially supervised, therapeutically oriented, integrated treatment regime
  • reducing the participant’s severe substance use disorder
  • reducing the level of criminal activity associated with the disorder
  • assisting the participants’ integration into the community.

A therapeutic jurisprudence approach to justice – a participant’s journey through Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court

To follow the possible pathways of a person through the Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court, access the interactive video on the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council website.

Frequently asked questions

The Drug and Specialist Court Review found that court-based intervention programs can reduce drug-related offending in a cost-effective way. The Review supported the reinstatement of a drug court in Queensland. It recommended the court be widened to also include offenders with alcohol dependency.

A person has a severe substance use disorder if they are:

  • taking a substance in larger amounts or for longer than you’re meant to
  • wanting to cut down or stop using the substance but not managing to
  • spending a lot of time getting, using or recovering from use of the substance
  • have cravings and urges to use the substance
  • not managing to do what you should at work or home because of substance use.