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‘How many more people have to die?’: Calls to fix Australia’s music festival culture
Advocacy groups, including STA-Safe and some of the nation’s leading drug researchers, have begged the government to drop its “zero-tolerance” stance, insisting the answer is simple — and lives will be saved if the government changed its approach. […]
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‘It’s saving lives’: community rallies to support Melbourne’s drug-injecting room
There have been 8,000 visits and 140 people had been treated for potentially life-threatening overdoses, according to recent figures. “This was [set up] to save lives, every indication is this facility is saving lives,” the mental health minister, Martin Foley, said as he revealed the statistics late last month. […]
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A Better System for Better Outcomes – National Medicated Assisted Treatment for Opioid Dependence (MATOD) Summit Media Release
New report says opioid treatment is unaffordable and inaccessible for many people Harm Reduction Australia (HRA) and ScriptWise are calling for improvements in opioid treatment due to the current lack of availability, acceptability and affordability of treatment for affected Australians. In addition to the approximately 50,000 people currently on MATOD…
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Amnesty International movement adopts new policy positions on abortion and drug control
Representatives voted to adopt what will be the organisation’s first ever position on how States should address the challenges posed by drugs from a human rights perspective. The proposed policy calls for a shift away from the current “scorched-earth” approach of heavy-handed criminalisation, to an approach where protection of people’s…
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We have a global drug policy problem that is destroying lives, dividing communities and destabilising countries
‘Drug’ Prohibition is an archaic system rooted in the 1950s that’s had a devastating global impact upon individuals, families, communities and countries. In decades to come, it will be remembered as one of the most arbitrary, barbaric and brutal systems of oppression in recent history. […]
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A tale of two stories on Melbourne’s injecting room
There are now close to 100 safe injecting facilities across the world. We know that safe injecting facilities work to reduce harms and deaths, and to improve access to treatment for people who use drugs. They also reduce the spread of blood borne viruses and reduce community exposure to people injecting.…
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Addicted? review: Matt Noffs’ & Kieran Palmer’s brave approach to the problems
While addiction can be harmful and suck away our spirit, it need not be an eternal shackle. It is a part of our biology and our being, but its destructiveness can be minimised and managed.” […]
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If Addiction Is a Disease, Why Is Relapsing a Crime?
Policies that punish relapse with jail time and keep sufferers from proven treatments are part and parcel of a nearly 50-year war on drugs, predicated almost entirely on criminalization, that no reasonable person would say is working. It costs about $33,000 a year to imprison someone for a nonviolent drug…
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NT has high hopes for drug decriminalising
A parliamentary committee in the Northern Territory will examine the possibility of decriminalising all drugs, as Chief Minister Michael Gunner opened the door to a new “health approach” to the issue. Assistant Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services Jeff Collins, who has been lobbying for drug decriminalisation, will lead the…
