News
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Victoria Applauded for Refusing Plan to Drug Test Welfare Recipients
VCOSS CEO Emma King told Pro Bono News “nobody with heart” could support the policy. “We applaud the Victorian Government refusal to play the Commonwealth’s cruel game,” King said. “Drug testing and then punishing vulnerable job seekers will neither find them a job nor help them get off drugs. […]
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Colombia ignores US pressure to return to aerial fumigation of coca
Colombia’s government dismissed US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s claim that “it is necessary to resume fumigation” of coca, the base ingredient for cocaine, reported newspaper El Tiempo. Disregarding Tillerson’s opinion, the Colombian government is bound to the peace deal that allows the spraying of chemicals only as a last…
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Welfare Drug Testing Will Ruin Recovering Addicts Like Me
When I heard Scott Morrison’s announcement, I thought, Well, that’s welfare done. I guess I’ll be avoiding it altogether. And I know that others like me, too, will feel that burn. Maybe that’s what some people hope will happen—for “dole bludging drug addicts” to be punished. But a welfare system…
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Drug testing for welfare recipients slammed as ‘cheap, populist nonsense’ in Victoria
The Victorian Government has said it will not cooperate with the Federal Government’s proposed plan to test welfare recipients for illicit drugs. “It simply won’t work, and it’s cheap, populist nonsense designed to create a smokescreen as to what really drives disadvantage,” Victoria’s Mental Health Minister Martin Foley told 7.30. […]
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Support users, don’t punish them: Ex-AFP boss’ radical ideas to beat the drug trade
With the best intentions in the world, we simply cannot arrest and imprison our way out of the problem. We must be prepared to try new ideas and approaches. […]
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Drug experts at Curtin University claim drug tests at festivals would save lives
The National Drug Research Institute says a trial of “sensible, contained and targeted drug-checking services” at Australia’s music festivals is “much-needed”. But the Curtin University-based group said this would only happen if political leaders “instruct health and law enforcement to work together and make it happen”. […]
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Music festivals told by health officials to offer drug testing so users can assess the strength of illegal narcotics
The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) said testing facilities should be ‘standard’ at festivals so revellers can assess the strength and content of the drugs they are considering taking. Drug safety testing pilots at the Secret Garden Party and Kendall Calling festivals last summer, with the support of local police…
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Australia Is Lagging Behind On Safe Injecting Rooms And It’s Killing People
No one in the field is claiming that MSICs will solve the state’s drug problem — the coroner’s report explicitly said they were not the “silver bullet” — but when displayed alongside the state’s other harm minimisation policies centred on drug use, it would seem surely seem like a natural…
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Uruguay, the first country where you can smoke marijuana wherever you like
“South America’s war against drugs has been absurd, with catastrophic results no matter which indicators you consider, including consumption. If Uruguay’s experience turns out positive, it will be easier for other countries such as Colombia or Mexico, mired in huge problems with powerful narcos, to find a better solution than…
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Government Paper Says Welfare Drug Tests ‘Ought Not Be Considered’
“Whilst it is understandable why some might presume that drug testing is a useful strategy, it is high in cost, may have unintended adverse outcomes, and raises serious ethical and legal issues,” the paper said. “Its drawbacks may be addressed, at least in part, if it is clearly demonstrated that drug…