News
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Pill testing as harm minimisation
Even though legalisation for recreational use is so far limited to cannabis in Uruguay, Alaska, California, Washington and Colorado, Noffs thinks there will be a domino effect. “It’s inevitable, partly because big pharma and those behind the recreational cannabis push in the US are going for it, so there’s a…
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Support for pill testing grows with minister’s endorsement in Australia
Pill testing in Australia has taken another positive step forward, with a Northern Territory minister stating it should be made available at music festivals. NT Assistant Police Minister Jeff Collins said there had been a lot of measures “to try and reduce the number of pills taken, including sniffer dogs…
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Why Pill Testing Was The Best Medicine For Australia
It’s time for a new perspective on drugs, on addiction and on how we manage drugs as a country. We know how to make Australia the safest place on the planet when it comes to drugs and young people. It’s time to leave the past behind and get on board…
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Drug-testing facilities should be used at all UK festivals after Mutiny deaths, urge experts
All UK festivals should provide drug-testing facilities, experts and campaigners have urged, following the deaths of two young people believed to have taken high-strength ecstasy at a festival over the bank holiday weekend. […]
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Is the US opioid crisis contagious and could Australia be next?
Australia tends to think about drugs in a binary fashion. Do we prohibit this drug? Or is it widely available? The question should no longer be whether to ban drugs or not, perhaps the question on our every law makers lips should be “how much control do we want?” and…
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Another “Bad Batch”?
People want to know what is in their drugs, that is now clear, and they respond sensibly and appropriately when given the chance. Of course we can “just say no”, don’t take them but what if they persist? The answer is “just say know”. […]
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Drugs policing: UK Police Federation spokesman calls for policy rethink
The Police Federation spokesman on drugs policing, Simon Kempton, has called for a rethink on drugs policy, saying prohibition has “never worked”. Sgt Kempton, who works for Dorset Police, said the government should consider the Portuguese approach, where the possession of drugs has been decriminalised since 2001. […]
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Sydney woman Maria Exposto sentenced to death in Malaysia for drug trafficking
“The court believes the testimony of Maria in that she was an innocent carrier,” Exposto’s lawyer Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah said. “She was tricked into carrying the bag because of what we now call the internet scam, internet romance.” […]
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Sniffer Dogs to be Sent to South Australia State Schools to Find Drugs
It appears that different parts of Australia are choosing considerably different approaches to drug policy. It remains to be seen if Premier Marshall’s approach will be successful at reducing methamphetamine use among schoolchildren, but existing evidence suggests that it will not. […]
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Evidence supports more pill testing
The trial of pill testing at a recent music festival in Canberra was declared ‘‘a great success’’ by ACT police chief Justine Saunders. Testing illicit substances for life-threatening impurities has long helped harm minimisation elsewhere, but the trial was unprecedented in Australia. […]