• Tas drug legalisation backed by ex-judge

    A report calling on the Tasmanian government to decriminalise illegal drugs and invest more money in treatment services has the backing of a former chief magistrate. Community Legal Centres Tasmania on Monday released a study advocating a health-based approach to tackle the state’s “failing” war on drugs. […]

  • More executions reported in Philippines: UN experts

    Reports of summary executions, including of children, are multiplying in the Philippines, three United Nations experts said Monday, urging the government to investigate and curb “spiralling rights violations”. “The Government of the Philippines must urgently address growing reports of human rights violations, including murder, threats against indigenous peoples and the summary execution of children,” the panel of three experts said in…

  • ABC needs to report news not promote for-profit rehabs

    A rehabilitation centre should be a sanctuary. Given that this facility is a private, unregulated clinic, there is little the government can do to regulate its actions. However, journalists can be more critical in colluding with such services by considering what the motives are for a story when it is being pitched, and questioning whether using and fully identifying vulnerable people…

  • Heroin deaths on track to pass statewide road toll in three years

    Alcohol and Drug Foundation national policy manager Geoff Munro says the heroin toll will continue to rise. “We are disappointed that Victoria cannot follow the example of New South Wales of a supervised injecting room where people can get the medical assistance they need in case of an overdose,” he said. […]

  • ACT Labor conference forces caucus to consider pill testing at Spilt Milk

    The ACT Labor caucus will be forced to consider pill testing at Spilt Milk 2017 after a motion was unanimously passed at its conference on Saturday. Pressure has been mounting on the government to allow harm minimisation groups to help people test their illicit drugs for dangerous substances. […]

  • Feds approve Ottawa’s first supervised injection site

    The federal government signed off on the health centre’s application Wednesday after receiving the request for an injection site last January. Once a follow-up inspection is done, clients will enter one of five injection stations on the first floor of the health centre’s facility and shoot his or her drugs under the supervision of health experts. […]

  • Why Jokowi’s war on drugs is doing more harm than good

    Far from having a deterrent effect, the number of drug-related crimes in Indonesia increased in the months after the executions were carried out in January and April 2015. During the subsequent crackdown, researchers and advocates also documented an increase in the use of coercive measures, prison overcrowding, including raids by law enforcement, forced drug testing, and compulsory detention. […]

  • Could pharmacists dispense heroin in injecting rooms?

    Pharmacists could dispense heroin to illicit drug users under very limited circumstances as part of a suite of harm minimisation efforts, says Public Health Association chief executive Michael Moore. Mr Moore told the AJP that while supply and demand reduction are important, the experience internationally from countries such as Portugal demonstrate a greater need for Australia to focus on harm reduction.…

  • Philippine leader says drugs war ‘trivialised’ by human rights concerns

    Duterte wasted little time in his annual state of the nation address to defend a crackdown that has killed thousands of Filipinos. He said that though he valued human life, he needed to tackle “beasts and vultures” that were preying on helpless people and stopping foreign investment from pouring in. […]

  • Senior Victoria Police officer inspects injecting rooms on overseas drug study tour

    Drug decriminalisation and heroin-injecting rooms around the world are being studied first-hand by one of Victoria’s top police officers, despite the Victorian government’s continued opposition to a supervised injecting centre. […]