“A recent Senate estimates hearing heard that overall the department expects only 100 to 120 people to test positive a second time across the three trial sites. That’s $1 million committed for an evaluation of a trial that is likely to impact up to 120 people, before we know how much the contract to the private provider will cost.” […]

The lesson from Australia is this: if policy makers expect doctors to do all the heavy lifting, they must be supported. If patients who need medical cannabis are being blocked, the system must be changed. If a government legalises medical cannabis, they have committed themselves to making it available. And they should be held to account. […]

Labor MP Emma McBride reflected on her experience with a harm-minimisation approach in her work as a mental health pharmacist at Wyong Hospital. “If the government is genuine in its claim to help those burdened by dependence, a good first step would be properly funding units like this one and not attacking welfare recipients,” she said. […]

Tackling deaths related to drugs isn’t easy to do. But we do know what works. Nobody wants to be dependent on drugs, but I know it can happen to anyone. I’ve seen the most improbable comebacks and the unluckiest of tragedies. I also know that everyone can get better with the right support. […]

The Aftenposten newspaper reported on Thursday evening that Health Minister Bent Høie had asked the Norwegian Directorate of Health to draw up a list of which addicts were most suitable to receive so-called “heroin-assisted treatment”, and to assess the economic consequences of developing a heroin treatment program. […]

Governments across the country need to publicly acknowledge that our health and law enforcement systems have worked, and can continue to work, effectively together in the grey areas of life. No-one wants to see young people (or any people) harmed from drug use but to simply believe that we have the ability to prevent supply and prevent drug use is…

The need for drug policy reform remains as urgent as ever. We need to talk to our politicians, write to the newspapers, enlist the support of young people who are so often damaged by current drug policies. By educating people on the pitfalls of current drug policy, we stand a chance of getting the community onside. […]

“Among all the presidents I’ve known, Duterte’s the only one who’s taken the drug problem seriously,” said Rechi Cristobal, a specialist I spoke with who has spent years as a counselor training health workers. Yet in tackling addiction, Mr. Duterte’s tactics may be harming more than helping. “It’s scared everyone to the point that instead of seeking help, they’ve just…

Countries that have decriminalized personal drug use and possession and invested in public health interventions have seen positive results. For example, since decriminalization, Portugal has seen a reduction in drug use among vulnerable populations and increases in the number of people accessing treatment. There have also been significant decreases in HIV transmission (as high as 85 percent) and drug-related deaths.…

Though in the “barangay” slums [a small administrative district] drugs watch lists predate Duterte’s administration, he has used them to instil fear and to impose a paranoiac’s version of social order. Despite a reported spike of more than 50 per cent in the national murder rate [according to figures from July to November 2016 vs the same period in 2015],…