非法毒品在澳大利亚的大规模流行始于20世纪60年代末期。80年代初期，面对当时国内日益猖獗的毒品滥用现象，澳大利亚政府对既有的毒品政策进行了改革，并最终推出了“全国禁毒战略”（National Drug Strategy）。作为一项总体性的政策框架，“全国禁毒战略”以实现“危害最小化”（harm minimization）为根本目标，从“减少毒品的需求”、“减少毒品的流通”和“减少毒品的危害”这三个方面，对澳大利亚的禁毒工作提出了具体的要求和规划。自这一新政策实施以来，澳大利亚的毒品滥用现象得到了一定程度的控制和改善，但是从近年来的发展趋势来看，未来澳大利亚的毒情形势依旧不容乐观，禁毒工作的开展仍然任重而道远。
The use of illicit drugs has become a widespread phenomenon in Australia since the late 1960s. In response，the Australian Government launched the National Drug Strategy as a new overarching policy framework in 1993. With “harm minimization” as its main principle，the National Drug Strategy aims at tackling Australia’s drug problems from the following three interrelated pillars：demand reduction，supply reduction and harm reduction. While this new “harm minimization” policy has helped to alleviate，to certain extent，the drug problem in the country，recent statistics however has shown that the total number of illicit drug users in Australia remained unchanged over the last decade. This outcome implies that a more holistic approach which incorporates government agencies，experts and the general public is needed to truly minimize the harm that drug usage causes among individuals，families and communities.
