Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the restorative communities network in Canberra, Canadian Senator Vern White, a former police chief in Ottawa, said bail conditions should force drug addicts into treatment.

The long time practitioner of restorative justice, which brings offender and victim face-to-face if they choose to attend a conference rather than go to court, suggested the current system of imprisonment was not reducing the rate of crime or recidivism.

"2.1 per cent of Australians used ice last year, it's the highest in the world," he told a meeting in Canberra this week.

"It's an epidemic right now ... it's a tragic situation for you and I can tell you now, you've never seen more drugs, you've never arrested more people.

"To deal with drug trafficking, you need to find the capacity to deal with addiction."

When he became police chief in Ottawa, crack cocaine was the problem drug. Jailing offenders had little effect.

The police service raised $6 million to build two drug treatment centres, and street crime dropped by 40 per cent.

Drug addicts caught committing crimes were put on bail conditions that forced them into treatment.

"You do not have drug treatment here to take on 10 per cent," he said.

"I have put thousands of people in jail, I've given evidence 800 or 900 times and I still tell you that this system [restorative justice] is the only system that is going to achieve anything.

"For me, restorative justice is a system that allows us to give the forgiveness at the same time as accountability needed to deal with the crime.

"The reality is we've all had someone give us that opportunity.

"It is time for us to identify the positive sides of restorative justice when we're talking about them publicly instead of continually defending the few negatives."

The inaugural meeting of the restorative communities network in Canberra was convened by Attorney-General Simon Corbell on Wednesday.

"Having seen the success of our restorative communities conference back in July, it's not surprising to see there is an appetite for a more regular merging of like minds to share ideas and plan for future restorative collaboration," he said.

"As the ACT continues its restorative justice journey, this meeting shows there is further scope for restorative practice in the work of social and community services, child protection, health, education and economic development, to name a few.

"This meeting is about laying a platform for restorative practice in the ACT."