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Feds’ festival intervention bitter pill for ACT Government
Minister for Justice and Consumer Affairs, and Mental Health, Shane Rattenbury has accused the Canberra Liberals of undermining the ACT’s democratic processes and endangering public health by using their Federal counterparts to force the cancellation of the pioneering pill-testing trial at next month’s Spilt Milk music festival in Commonwealth Park. […]
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Why the government’s ‘draconian’ welfare bill must be voted down
Surely it is time for Australia to abandon its punitive approach to people struggling with illicit drug problems. This should include rejecting the draconian Welfare Reform Bill in its entirety. […]
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Pill testing advocates blame federal intervention for Spilt Milk trial cancellation
Advocates, academics and the ACT Greens claim federal intervention could be behind Thursday’s “shock” decision to shelve an Australian-first pill testing trial at Canberra’s Spilt Milk Festival. […]
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Pill testing highlights conflict on drugs
While plans for an Australia-first trial of pill testing at next month’s Spilt Milk music festival in Canberra have been shelved, the idea is unlikely to go away. It is also clear that the old ‘just say no’ approach to drugs is, at best, not enough because there will always be those tempted to do exactly what they’re told not to do. […]
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Australia’s first pill-testing trial cancelled – and ACT Liberals take credit
The Australian Capital Territory Liberal party has taken credit for blocking a pioneering pill-testing trial at an Australian music festival after organisers announced it will no longer go ahead. On Friday ACT Liberals congratulated the shadow attorney general, Jeremy Hanson, for “intervening” to block a pill-testing trial at the Spilt Milk festival in Canberra. […]
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Spilt Milk pulls out of Australia’s first pill testing trial
Acting Minister for Health Shane Rattenbury told ABC Radio Canberra this morning he’d heard rumours and was concerned that pill testing wouldn’t go ahead.However, he said the Government had “made all the right steps”. “The ACT Government has approved pill testing and believes that’s it’s a valuable harm minimisation measure,” he said. […]
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Pill Testing At Spilt Milk Festival Reportedly Won’t Be Happening
While the trial was heralded as a win for harm reduction among festival patrons, Gino Vumbaca, the president and co-founder of Harm Reduction Australia — the parent body behind STA-SAFE — confirmed to HuffPost Australia that the advisory body had only been made aware by the NCA of additional documentation requirements on Wednesday, and then 24 hours later were told…
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Pill testing advocate says ‘pressure’, not lack of documentation, to blame for abandoned Spilt Milk trial
“I think what’s happened is that there has been pressure placed upon a promoter, who’s a small businessman, and I think that’s probably where the root of the problem lies,” Dr Caldicott said […]
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Prohibition doesn’t work… what does “working” mean
We know that proponents of prohibition have asserted that its overall objective is to reduce drug use. And we know that this is why it is ultimately ineffective, because drug use has shown no signs of a decrease in the 40-plus years since the war on drugs was declared, and this is evidenced in expanding drug markets […]
