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Law enforcement are not drugs experts
If we learn about drugs and drug policy from people who don’t understand them, whose careers and ideologies literally depend on misunderstanding them, we will likely see drug use and drug harms continue to increase alongside the spread of misinformation. Please consult with relevant experts before making material concerning drugs…
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Time to legalise pill testing
Pill testing is advocated by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Even more significantly the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation – representing 275,000 nurses and other health sector workers – is also calling for pill testing trials. […]
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Following a series of drug-related deaths at music festivals in late 2018 and early 2019, momentum is gathering among health professionals to explore one potential solution: pill testing
In January, the PSA issued a position statement in favour of trials being conducted at music festivals, as well as other environments where illicit drug use takes place. […]
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What Groovin the Moo musicians think about the pill testing trial
A second pill testing trial will take place this year at the Canberra leg of the Groovin the Moo festival, a year after it hosted the first Australian trial in April 2018. The trial, to be run by the STA-SAFE consortium, will use the same technology but will be a larger operation…
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The UN chief executives board unanimously endorses decriminalisation of people who use drugs
The Chief Executives Board of the UN, representing 31 UN agencies, has adopted a common position on drug policy that endorses decriminalisation of possession and use. This comes just days before a key meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, which will review, the UN’s 10-year Global Drug…
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I ran a police force and I’m not soft on drugs. This is why I’m backing a pill testing trial
I support Coroner Grahame’s call for a drug summit, not to achieve any preconceived outcomes but as an opportunity for honest and open discussion and as a commitment to action aimed at improving the lives of vulnerable people. Not a talk fest, an “action fest”. […]
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UN Organizations Unite In Call for International Drug Decriminalization
The UN Chief Executives Board (CEB), which represents 31 UN agencies including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), adopted a position stipulating that member states should pursue science-based, health-oriented drug policies—namely decriminalization. […]
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New Zealand university students offered free drug-testing in ‘harm-prevention’ first
New Zealand university students offered free drug-testing in ‘harm-prevention’ first | World news | The Guardian Green party MP Chlöe Swarbrick said drug testing was in line with a health-based approach to illegal drug use, and was a positive step towards drug harm reduction. The Drug Foundation of New Zealand,…
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It’s time to change our drug dog policies to catch dealers, not low-level users at public events
Research has suggested the presence of drug detection dogs at festivals and other public places seldom deters drug-taking. But it often leads to more risky drug behaviour from people who use drugs, such as purchasing drugs inside rather than outside festivals, switching to less detectable but more harmful drugs, and hurried consumption of drugs…
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‘There’s no reason not to trial pill testing’: UNSW drug policy scholar stands firm on the evidence
Professor Alison Ritter has risen to national prominence in recent months due to her headline-making research on pill testing. Calls for pill testing have been continuously ignited by researchers and rejected by the NSW government, after six drug-related deaths at Australian music festivals in the last six months. “There seems…
