Harm Reduction Australia

Dr Caldicott said health policy should be based on research, not opinion. “Telling young people not to take drugs is about as useful as telling them not to have sex before marriage,” he said. “We obviously need to do something new because we have a whole generation of young people ignoring what they are being told and a wide variety of new drugs coming onto the market. […]

The criminalisation of illicit drugs is causing more harm than good, a prominent former judge has said, calling for criminal offences relating to personal drug possession to be abolished. […]

Over the coming months, music festivals will face much higher scrutiny than ever before, particularly in light of findings of last year’s coronial inquest. The NSW government remains under increasing pressure to change its current tactics for policing drugs at music festivals, particularly its stance on pill-testing as a harm minimisation measure, which it has steadfastly refused to consider. […]