• Doctor Is Pushing For MDMA And Cannabis To Be Legalised In Australia To Save Lives

    Senior research fellow Dr Monica Barrett from the National Drug and Alcohol­ Research Centre says the current government attitude of ‘just say no’ isn’t working. “If pure MDMA with known dosage were available for recreational purposes, the need for a comprehensive monitoring system for novel drugs and emerging drug trends would be less urgent and it is likely that most…

  • Politicians need some compassion on the festival drugs issue

    For the sake of thousands of festival-goers who will take MDMA at festivals over summer irrespective of what politicians say, let’s hope the Premier shows the same compassion as the deputy coroner and her team when the recommendations land. […]

  • Berejiklian noncommittal on action as NSW festival inquest continues

    SMH reports that emergency Dr David Caldicott wants to conduct the demonstration this coming weekend at the festival. Coroner Grahame, as well as the mother of Alex Ross-King who died at FOMO Festival earlier this year, have both expressed interest in attending the demonstration. Dr Caldicott has been part of two pill testing trials at Groovin The Moo in Canberra, both of which…

  • Friend of Josh Tam says they knew the risk of taking drugs

    Choking up, Mr Tam’s friend said they “would never touch MDMA again”. He said it was vital pill testing was available at festivals: “It’s stupid not to have pill testing. I just think how much one death has affected myself and everyone, if we can save one person then we’ve done our job. […]

  • Pill testing in Tasmania: how we got here

    The PTA and Dr Caldicott organised a pill testing trial at ACT’s Groovin’ The Moo in 2018. Dr Caldicott said pill testing was not about promoting the use of illicit drugs, rather a way of giving users information about the risk of taking them. “We demonstrate right in front of them – it works like a magic trick – showing…

  • ‘Never meant to happen’: the fear and failure behind NSW’s drug deaths

    “The idea of believing that saying to young people in possession of drugs ‘just say no’ is an effective message represents either a phenomenal misunderstanding of how the adolescent mind works, or just a lack of concern,” the emergency doctor and pill-testing advocate David Caldicott said this week. […]

  • I hate drugs, but teenagers are dying while we maintain a supposed moral veneer

    In the present debate about harm minimisation, it’s the NSW deputy coroner, Harriet Grahame, who’s willing to identify what so many – least of all the NSW premier – just will not. In March, releasing findings from a previous inquest into deaths related to opioid drugs, Grahame recommended “decriminalising personal use of drugs, as a mechanism to reduce the harm…

  • Hobart culture, events and community committee vote to trial pill testing

    A Hobart culture and events committee has unanimously voted in favour of supporting a pill testing trial at the city’s major events. The trial would require the state government’s support, but its stance against pill testing had remained firm, with newly appointed Health Minister Sarah Courtney saying pill testing was not supported by the government. […]

  • Drug Death Parent Says Teens Need to Be ‘Saved from Themselves’

    Emergency doctor David Caldicott, a senior lecturer at Australian National University, told 10 daily he has “faith” in the coroner’s court to produce well-informed and useful suggestions — but was not confident about how well they would be implemented. “I suspect the coronial report will be full of useful suggestions, many of which will be ignored by our elected representatives…

  • Government’s welfare drug-testing plans will end in disaster

    “A drug testing pilot would have delivered an ineffective, expensive and harmful regime that would have hindered, not helped Australians struggling with addiction,” noted Associate Professor Adrian Reynolds, President of the Royal Australian College of Physician’s Australasian Chapter of Addiction Medicine, in a celebratory statement when the proposal was first dropped. […]