The Australian Legal Alliance (ALA) has also called for the prosecution of medicinal cannabis patients who are driving while unimpaired to be paused while the trial is undertaken. ALA national president Shaun Marcus said drivers were being prosecuted merely for having a substance in their body rather than potentially dangerous impaired driving. […]

Today, a new organisation, Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa (HRCA) launched with the submission of an Open Letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, signed by a plethora of professors, academics, researchers, clinicians, health professionals, NGO workers, drug consumers, and members of the public calling for the legalisation and regulation of all drugs. […]

Hydromorphone is offered as a strong form of pain relief for some hospital patients. Someone with no tolerance might be administered 2 mg at a time. People using it as a pharmacotherapy to wean themselves off heroin could work their way up to taking 200 mg in a single dose. Sydney’s hydromorphone trial is overseen by Prof Nadine Ezard, the…

The first of those trials of drug checking in Australia was conducted at the Groovin’ the Moo music festival in 2018, by a group that came to be known as Pill Testing Australia (PTA). The story of how that happened is discussed elsewhere (here) but “how” we do it is a matter of record. […]

A long-term heroin user says injecting rooms save lives and the Victorian government has put politics above the health and safety of citizens by scrapping a second injecting centre in Melbourne. […]

Associate Professor Vicki Sentas from UNSW Law & Justice says policing outside the Domain Dance party, the Mardi Gras after party and the closing ceremony Rainbow Republic during World Pride events in 2023 was characterised by invasive questioning of patrons, a dubious use of drug detection dog patrols, humiliating and potentially unlawful searches, and instances of use of force. […]

A proposed safe injecting room to be based in Melbourne’s CBD has been rejected by the Victorian government, which claimed it could not find an appropriate location for it. […]

Australia is one of the most lucrative markets in the world for methamphetamines. In the year to August 2023, the country smoked, snorted and shot up about 10 and a half tonnes of the stuff — a 17 per cent increase on the year before, and more than double the amount of cocaine. […]

At least 36 people were arrested at an annual pro-cannabis picnic at Melbourne’s Flagstaff Gardens. The rally in the city’s CBD aims to raise awareness for the legalisation of cannabis, and occurs annually on April 20 or 4/20. Recreational use of which is banned in all Australian states. […]

Some experts, like Professor Jennifer Schumann from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, want to see pill testing introduced more widely, especially at music festival venues where there’s been a recent spate of fatal overdoses. […]