The study provides a comprehensive statistical overview and analysis of drug offending detected by general police and specialist enforcement agencies in Australia over the past few years. It also explores agency definitions of seriousness and the intelligence and operational criteria that inform those definitions. Further, the study examines what mechanisms exist to ensure that targeting criteria are oriented toward the major traffickers. Part One of this report contains a literature review and summary of Australian law enforcement agencies' current policies on the targeting of major drug offenders. Part Two documents and analyses Federal and State trends in arrests for drug offenses over the last 10 years, and Part Three presents a qualitative analysis that explores the ability of the specialist agencies to distinguish between major and minor drug offenders. The study concludes that the primary impact of Australia's drug laws continues to be felt by comparatively minor offenders. The vast majority of drug-related apprehensions are at the street level and are performed by nonspecialist police agencies. From intensive interviews with some State drug squads and other specialist groups, however, the authors conclude that even these specialist bodies continue to have problems in defining and targeting major figures in the illicit drug trade. 43 tables, an appended typology of major drug offenders, and 58 references