News
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Ireland: UCC Students’ Union vote to introduce drug checking kits
The drug checking kits will allow students who have purchased drugs to ensure they have indeed bought what they believe and that the drug is ‘safe.’ The campaign, to bring drug checking kits which can detect potentially lethal contaminants, has been pushed by SSDP Ireland for the last two years.…
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Public housing ban on people with drug records likely to do more harm than good, research tell us
The New South Wales government plans to ban people with a history of drug offences from living in social housing in parts of inner city Sydney. The desire to provide an environment that helps people who are trying to minimise their drug use and stay away from drug markets is…
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The Science Can No Longer Be Ignored: Legal Cannabis Access Reduces Opioid Abuse and Mortality
Scientific data is growing exponentially in support of the notion that legalized cannabis access can significantly mitigate opioid use and abuse. On Monday, the esteemed Journal of the American Medical Association, Internal Medicine published a pair of persuasive new studies reinforcing this opinion. […]
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ACT government, Groovin The Moo promoter in stalemate over pill testing
A letter between ACT Health Minister Meegan Fitzharris and Groovin The Moo promoter Cattleyard obtained by Fairfax Media revealed the promoter’s support for the trial was “contingent” on a list of requirements being met. It’s understood some of the demands can’t be met under current ACT laws. […]
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What It’s Like for an American Drug Reformer to Go to a Country with a Compassionate System
Welcome to Portugal. The country’s low-key, non-headline-generating drug policy, based on compassion, public health, and public safety, is a stark contrast with the U.S., as the mind-boggled response of the activists suggests. […]
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Drug reform report is timely, and necessary
Portugal decriminalised drugs 15 years ago. There’s been a decrease in drug use, crime, disease and overdoses. Other nations are taking the same prescription, and ending proscription. It’s an approach that should appeal to progressives, libertarians and conservatives alike – progressives and libertarians because of their support for freedom, and…
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Former top cop calls on Groovin the Moo to allow pill testing at Canberra festival
A proposal to hold a trial at next month’s festival at the University of Canberra received the green light from the university. Late last week former Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Palmer wrote to promotors of Groovin the Moo, noting the university’s support was “very positive”. “I am delighted…
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Victorian drug law reform recommendations are welcome – but must include prisoners
The Victorian report includes a recommendation to “monitor” the situation in prisons, and defer some of these issues to an advisory body. We remain hopeful the advisory body will consider prison reforms alongside the other welcome recommendations in the report. […]
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Call for pill testing at festivals to help emergency services treat overdose victims
Pill testing should be introduced at music festivals to help emergency workers treat patients suffering adverse reactions like overdoses, according to an inquiry into Victorian drug law reform. A state parliamentary committee investigating laws and regulation of illicit drugs released the mammoth 680-page report with 50 recommendations. It proposed authorities,…
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Review cannabis laws for potential recreational use in Victoria, report says
President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, Alex Wodak, is quoted in the report and was present in parliament when it was tabled. “Our efforts to date have been a miserable failure. We’ve relied almost exclusively on efforts to cut the supply of drugs, probably well intentioned, but the…