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Berejiklian noncommittal on action as NSW festival inquest continues
SMH reports that emergency Dr David Caldicott wants to conduct the demonstration this coming weekend at the festival. Coroner Grahame, as well as the mother of Alex Ross-King who died at FOMO Festival earlier this year, have both expressed interest in attending the demonstration. Dr Caldicott has been part of two pill…
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I hate drugs, but teenagers are dying while we maintain a supposed moral veneer
In the present debate about harm minimisation, it’s the NSW deputy coroner, Harriet Grahame, who’s willing to identify what so many – least of all the NSW premier – just will not. In March, releasing findings from a previous inquest into deaths related to opioid drugs, Grahame recommended “decriminalising personal…
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Hobart culture, events and community committee vote to trial pill testing
A Hobart culture and events committee has unanimously voted in favour of supporting a pill testing trial at the city’s major events. The trial would require the state government’s support, but its stance against pill testing had remained firm, with newly appointed Health Minister Sarah Courtney saying pill testing was not…
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Drug Death Parent Says Teens Need to Be ‘Saved from Themselves’
Emergency doctor David Caldicott, a senior lecturer at Australian National University, told 10 daily he has “faith” in the coroner’s court to produce well-informed and useful suggestions — but was not confident about how well they would be implemented. “I suspect the coronial report will be full of useful suggestions,…
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Parents of young man who died at a music festival hope coronial inquest will lead to pill testing
Josh’s parents have now started a foundation called Just Mossin to raise awareness of safety at music festivals. They’re hoping the music festival coronial inquest will lead to more harm minimisation strategies like pill testing. “Change is what’s needed. We don’t believe we have all the answers to it, we…
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There’s only one way to deal with drugs to make Australia safer
The only way to ensure a safer Australian society is to legalise and regulate all drugs. This could save lives, earn huge revenue for the state and diminish the power of criminal gangs that make billions of dollars annually from the production and sale of illicit substances. This doesn’t mean…
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Push to decriminalise ice use as bar backs public health approach’
The personal use and possession of ice and other illicit drugs would be decriminalised in NSW under a public health-driven plan backed by the Bar Association and other top lawyers. In a submission to the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug Ice the association says that criminalising personal drug use…
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Liberal Party Pride group pushes for pill-testing in Victoria
A new push for pill-testing has emerged within the conservative side of politics with a Liberal group fighting for a controversial trial to prevent drug-related deaths at music festivals in Victoria. The Liberal Pride branch has proposed a year-long pill-testing trial in a motion to be debated by party members…
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ACT government considers direct funding for pill testing after deadly drugs uncovered
The ACT government says it will consider directly funding pill testing, after seven potentially deadly drugs were detected at Sunday’s Groovin the Moo music festival at Exhibition Park. Around 234 festivalgoers out of the 24,000-strong crowd took part in the last free drug checking trial in the ACT on the weekend. …
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Despite bad press, injecting room is doing what it was designed for
After nine months, the room is doing exactly what it was designed to do – save lives. More than 650 overdoses have been successfully reversed in the injecting room, all of which would have occurred in public and which may have otherwise been fatal. […]
