News
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NSW sniffer dog plan challenge fails
NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong brushed off the defeat, insisting the police plan was an overreach of powers and claiming drug dogs get it wrong up to 75 per cent of the time. “If the NSW Police wanted people to be safe at festivals they would be advocates of pill testing,…
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This Politician Is Taking The Police To Court Over Its Sniffer Dog Program
New South Wales Greens MP David Shoebridge says he will be taking the state police to court. The sought injunction is over a controversial drug dog policy announced earlier this week that would see people rejected from an event if a sniffer dog indicated they had drugs on them, even…
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Global expert calls for drug decriminalisation in Australia
Manuel Cardoso, who is credited for his role in reforming the Portuguese system in 2001, told Fairfax Media that Australia should decriminalise all drugs and treat drug use and abuse as a public health issue rather than one of criminal justice. “Decriminalising is considered by the United Nations as a…
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Sydney revellers to take NSW Police to court over concert sniffer dog plan
Three people are taking NSW Police to court over a controversial plan to deny entry to a Sydney concert anyone who is singled out by a sniffer dog – regardless of whether drugs are actually found. In conjunction with The Greens’ Sniff Off campaign, three of the festival’s patrons said…
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All eyes on Canada as first G7 nation prepares to make marijuana legal
From crime to health to business, Canada’s decision to legalize marijuana is a grand progressive experiment that promises to answer a host of questions, […]
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UK’s Bestival to provide drug testing in attempt to prevent deaths
“Bestival strongly advises festival goers to avoid taking any illegal substances,” says a Bestival spokesperson in a statement. “However, harm reduction and customer welfare are our priorities, so we have made the decision to bring The Loop onboard to offer drug safety testing onsite, giving people the opportunity to make…
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Busted for doing NOTHING: Revellers will be banned from a six-hour rave if a police sniffer dog sits next to them… even if they DON’T have any drugs or contraband
Fans may want to think twice before attending ‘Above and Beyond’ music gig as police warn fans will be kicked out if a drug sniffer dog just sits next to them. They will be refused entry regardless of whether drugs are even found on them. Fans are slamming the police…
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Festival goers stopped by sniffer dogs to be banned – even if no drugs are found
The decision has been slammed by politicians, drug safety advocates and civil libertarians who point to the questionable reliability of sniffer dogs and argue that police are abusing their powers. “Penalising people for the failure of the drug dog program is a clear abuse of police powers,” NSW Greens MP…
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New Police sniffer dog policy at music events may not be legal
A new police policy around drugs, sniffer dogs and music festivals may be illegal and ”a clear abuse of police powers,” lawyers say. It’s a fundamentally flawed approach. Sniffer dogs are notoriously ineffective, producing false positives up to 80 percent of the time. By this logic, 4 in 5 people approached…
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Festival testing shows a way to reduce harm
The evidence so far suggests that, far from encouraging drug-taking, testing services seem to make people think twice. The Loop reports that 10-15% of the drug users it deals with decide to ditch their stash on learning what is really in it (which has included everything from concrete to anti-malaria…