News
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Inquiry denies proposal for safe injection room in North Richmond
Harm Reduction Australia executive officer Greg Denham said a safe injecting room would not only save lives but would also improve the amenity of the area around North Richmond. Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Cameron Loy said injecting drugs was a health issue. He said North Richmond Community Health Centre…
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Australian Doctors Clash With Government Over Drug Testing for Welfare Recipient
Hundreds of Australian doctors and health-care workers have signed an open letter to the federal government asking officials not to implement mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients. […]
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NT Government may move to decriminalise drugs in bid to tackle health issue, assistant minister says
Prohibiting the use of drugs in the Northern Territory has failed, Assistant Minister Jeff Collins says, and he will push the Government to look at decriminalising personal use quantities of drugs. […]
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Staying in The Loop: the organisation testing drugs, one festival at a time
Critics of The Loop and other similar services often lobby the accusation that drug testing facilitates drug use. But the results speak for themselves – around 20 per cent of the people who choose to get their drugs tested turn the rest in, and many who do are in possession of the most dangerous…
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Drug testing welfare recipients a ‘tick a box’ exercise that can never work
Already treatment services are full and clinicians are fully occupied. There is the idea that one might be able to purchase a treatment place for someone out of the schedules in this welfare reform bill. All that will mean is that someone else will miss out on a treatment place,…
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Drug testing welfare recipients will only result in more drug dealing
This is an attack on poor areas by the rich. It is lopsided. Oh, and speaking of rich people — did I mention that while ice is on the decrease, cocaine is on the up? Where, among other places? Canberra. You heard correctly. Canberrans use more cocaine than most Australians. So if we’re…
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Plan to drug test welfare recipients will ‘increase crime and drive social division’, say medical
Nearly 1000 doctors, nurses, addiction specialists and allied health professionals are pressuring the Senate crossbench to reject the Turnbull government’s plan to drug-test welfare recipients. The medical professionals – who have more than 20,000 years combined practical experience – have signed an open letter saying there is no evidence to suggest the policy will work and…
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Welfare drug test trial announced for Mandurah prompts fears of ‘devastating’ fallout
Mental health issues and substance abuse could rise in Western Australia if a plan to drug test jobseekers goes ahead, a National Drug Research Institute professor has warned. NDRI Professor Edward Wilkes said the intended testing was “punitive” and targeted those who were among the most disadvantaged is society. […]
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Rally urges government to back safe injection rooms for Richmond
Hundreds of Richmond residents have called on the Andrews government to reconsider its opposition to safe injecting rooms following the deaths of 34 drug addicts in the laneways of North Richmond last year. But Premier Daniel Andrews again refused to budge on the issue, which could play a key role…
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Why safe drug-consumption rooms make more sense than testing welfare recipients
Given the huge amount of taxpayers money spent on drug law enforcement – with few results – and the manifest benefits of such safe and effective facilities, it is high time that Australian governments show a capacity for nimbleness and innovation by opening a network of drug-consumption rooms where they are…