News
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Is it time for Australia to decriminalise drugs?
Just five years after Portugal decriminalised drugs in 2001, illegal drug use by teenagers had declined, the rate of HIV infections among drug users had dropped, deaths related to heroin and similar drugs had been cut by more than half, and the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction…
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If You Want To See Pill Testing At Festivals, Here’s How To Give Your Support
Earlier this year, Australia’s landmark first pill-testing trial took place at Canberra’s Groovin’ The Moo. Deemed a success, the findings proved what advocates have been saying for years — that pill-testing saves lives. And now, the team behind the trial need your help to take it to the next level.…
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Don’t ostracize drugs users – empathize with them
Required for treatment is a multilevel approach that accepts people as they are, in which compassion replaces stigmatization and rehabilitation supplants punishment. This would include: Supervised drug-use sites in as many communities as feasible; for those who need them, medically supervised opiates or opiate substitute maintenance, while for others, abstinence-based…
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$100K Fundraiser Launched For Pill Testing At More Aussie Festivals
Harm Reduction Australia (HRA) — part of the STA-SAFE Consortium, which ran the Groovin The Moo trial — is seeking to raise $100,000 so that it can host more pill testing programs across Australia. The group’s President and co-founder, Gino Vumbaca, tells Music Feeds that the money will allow HRA…
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Support sought for more pill testing
Harm Reduction Australia is hoping to raise $100,000 to roll out more music festival pill testing trials, following the success of the first pilot in Canberra. […]
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Welfare drug test plan passes Lower House
“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…
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Medical cannabis – the Australian experience
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…
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Drug test plan faces new Senate battle
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…
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Drug addiction is a tragedy. But we could stop so many people dying
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…
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Norway to give free heroin to 400 addicts: report
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. […]