2017 Articles RSS feed for this section

Reports of summary executions, including of children, are multiplying in the Philippines, three United Nations experts said Monday, urging the government to investigate and curb “spiralling rights violations”. “The Government of the Philippines must urgently address growing reports of human rights violations, including murder, threats against indigenous peoples and the summary execution of children,” the panel of three experts said in a statement. […]

A rehabilitation centre should be a sanctuary. Given that this facility is a private, unregulated clinic, there is little the government can do to regulate its actions. However, journalists can be more critical in colluding with such services by considering what the motives are for a story when it is being pitched, and questioning whether using and fully identifying vulnerable people as case studies is ethical. […]

Alcohol and Drug Foundation national policy manager Geoff Munro says the heroin toll will continue to rise. “We are disappointed that Victoria cannot follow the example of New South Wales of a supervised injecting room where people can get the medical assistance they need in case of an overdose,” he said. […]

The ACT Labor caucus will be forced to consider pill testing at Spilt Milk 2017 after a motion was unanimously passed at its conference on Saturday. Pressure has been mounting on the government to allow harm minimisation groups to help people test their illicit drugs for dangerous substances. […]

The federal government signed off on the health centre’s application Wednesday after receiving the request for an injection site last January. Once a follow-up inspection is done, clients will enter one of five injection stations on the first floor of the health centre’s facility and shoot his or her drugs under the supervision of health experts. […]

Far from having a deterrent effect, the number of drug-related crimes in Indonesia increased in the months after the executions were carried out in January and April 2015. During the subsequent crackdown, researchers and advocates also documented an increase in the use of coercive measures, prison overcrowding, including raids by law enforcement, forced drug testing, and compulsory detention. […]

Duterte wasted little time in his annual state of the nation address to defend a crackdown that has killed thousands of Filipinos. He said that though he valued human life, he needed to tackle “beasts and vultures” that were preying on helpless people and stopping foreign investment from pouring in. […]

Drug decriminalisation and heroin-injecting rooms around the world are being studied first-hand by one of Victoria’s top police officers, despite the Victorian government’s continued opposition to a supervised injecting centre. […]

Almost 20 years since Prime Minister John Howard scuttled a scientific trial into the effectiveness of providing prescription heroin to addicts, former ACT independent MLA Michael Moore believes its time to start the conversation about it again. […]

Victoria’s former police chief has spoken out in support of supervised injecting rooms for Melbourne, saying drug use is not an issue to “arrest your way out of”. Ken Lay, now Ambulance Victoria chairman, told Joy FM’s Saturday Magazine program that drug users were sick, not criminals. […]

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno turns to drug reform as her primary remit, at the head of an organization with a $15 million budget, offices in California, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Washington, D.C.; a considerable cadre of experienced and talented professionals, and a well-earned reputation for being able to make drug reform actually happen. […]

Indonesia already has tough laws against drugs, and Mr Widodo has previously been criticised for ordering executions against convicted drug traffickers given death penalties in the country’s courts. Mr Widodo’s remarks have drawn comparison to that of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who launched a brutal anti-drug crackdown about a year ago that saw many alleged drug dealers killed. […]

“(Srivijayan) was executed despite a pending appeal to have his case taken to the International Court of Justice, which would look into allegations that he was not given a fair trial,” the UN human rights body said in a statement. James Gomez, Amnesty International’s director for South East Asia and the Pacific, said: “That this cruel punishment has been administered after a trial filled with flaws makes this flouting of international law all the more disturbing.” […]

The paramedics who treat overdosed heroin addicts want a safe injecting room trial. The Richmond traders and locals who deal with users want a trial. The local government backs it. Health experts across the fields demand it. And Victoria’s coroner has twice recommended the state trial a medically supervised injecting room. […]

Next week, Uruguay will begin sales of legal marijuana for adult residents. The legalization proposal was put forward by former President José Mujica in 2012 as part of a comprehensive package aimed at improving public safety. Uruguay’s parliament gave final approval to the measure in December 2013, making theirs the first country in the world to legally regulate the production, distribution and sale of marijuana for adults. […]

Fiona Patton, a member of the Upper House of Victoria parliament, said there was no serious organization that opposed safe injecting rooms. “Anyone with any common sense who has been there on the streets will see it is not working and people are dying,” Patton said. […]

There are only four days left to save Prabagaran Srivijayan’s life before he is cruelly dragged to the gallows. The Singaporean authorities must immediately halt his execution before another person suffers this inhumane and irreversible punishment. […]

After four years researching the dark world of drug addiction in the inner west, Jeremy Aitken believes having a place in the community where users could safely inject drugs would save lives. Having seen users accessing needle exchange programs, only to overdose through misadventure outside clinic doors, the academic and author is weighing in on the debate over the need for a second supervised injecting room in Sydney. […]

“Visit a facility, talk to a real addict; to obtain some real facts before dismissing the proposal,” former AFP commissioner Mick Palmer said. “The reality is the facts speak for themselves and the huge success of Sydney’s [injecting centre] cannot be ignored, with major benefits and minimal negatives identified in a dozen independent evaluations and reviews.” […]

The hardline approach does not work. That has been proven by now. You cannot stop the drug problem by waging war on it, just as you cannot stop something as ephemeral as “terror” by pledging to fight it with guns, and with arrests, and with the restrictions of civil liberties. Turning drug users and drug dealers into the enemy is like cutting off your toe to avoid the worst of tinea; like murdering your children to make sure someone else doesn’t first. […]

Criminal penalties for the possession, use and social supply of all drugs – not just cannabis – should be scrapped, the Drug Foundation has proposed. It announced the policy on Wednesday at its Parliamentary symposium, also calling for a strictly regulated cannabis market and more resources for prevention, education and treatment. […]

The answer is not to give away the game of trying to control an uncontrollable market, but rather to learn from history and approach the problem with a clear headed focus on evidence. The answer lies in decriminalisation of personal use of drugs, regulation of the market and reducing the demand for drugs, not a focus on stopping what is a tidal wave of supply. […]

“There’s all these new chemicals out there and people are dying because of those,” the Drug Foundation director Ross Bell said. “What we want to look at is how can we prevent that happening in New Zealand. […]

Undercover testing of illicit drugs at Kiwi music festivals has revealed that a third of substance-taking festivalgoers are consuming dodgy drugs. The findings have sparked a call from Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne to introduce legal testing of party drugs at festivals to reduce harm, labelling it logical and “common sense”. […]

In a joint statement, the United Nations and World Health Organization expressed their support for countries in the review and repeal of laws that criminalize drug use and possession of drugs for personal use. This joint statement, which addresses discrimination in health care settings, comes in light of the Sustainable Development Goals which aim to “ensure that no one is left behind”. […]

The foundation is going to parliament next week to show politicians examples of overseas programs. “We’re going to tell them the public are onside. Let’s be grown-up about this and let’s be prepared to drag our old drug laws into the 21st century,” Executive Director Ross Bell said. […]

For too long, the debate around regulating recreational drug culture has been driven by those removed from its epicentre, albeit with clear concern for those at risk – politicians, law enforcement, parents of drug users, or even services seeking to minimise associated harm. As it becomes increasingly critical to explore new approaches focusing on harm reduction, we need to stop judging other people’s choices if we are to help them stay safe. […]

The results are resoundingly clear: Drug testing is costly, invasive and ineffective. In recent years, seven US states with drug-testing programs have spent over $1 million, only to find that in six of them, fewer than 1 percent of beneficiaries tested positive, compared with about 10 percent of the general population. […]

Drug users have long been one of the most demonised and marginalised groups in society – and a low priority for policymakers. This simply can’t continue. A public health crisis and loss of life on the scale currently being witnessed warrants an immediate, and unapologetically progressive response. […]

Launched a year ago, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs has resulted in thousands of deaths, yet the street price of crystal methamphetamine in Manila has fallen and surveys show Filipinos are as anxious as ever about crime. […]

The abolition of anti-pot laws wouldn’t induct us into the Age of Aquarius. As we’ve seen in America, it’s actually a pretty small step – but it might spare a few kids from the brutality of the prison system, while freeing up resources that could be put to better use elsewhere.  […]

David Caldicott, a senior medical lecturer at Australian National University told Guardian Australia there was a lack of clarity among both doctors and patients due to confusing government frameworks. “If you go to different states in Australia you see very different responses. It is still incredibly cumbersome to get drugs to patients. […]

Federal parliament will debate whether people with a disability caused by drug or alcohol use should receive government pensions, in the latest controversial welfare clampdown to attract outrage from social agencies. Numerous welfare and social groups have voiced their outrage over the measure, saying it unfairly targets and marginalises people who struggle with addiction and serious substance abuse issues. […]

In a groundbreaking move, the ACT Government is in talks about legally providing drug testing at a major Canberra music festival, according to the Ted Noffs Foundation. […]

A decree issued by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto today confirmed that Mexico has legalized cannabis for medicinal use after overwhelming support from Mexico’s Lower House of Congress. […]

It’s time Victoria followed NSW in setting up a safe place for heroin addicts to inject drugs, health professionals say. […]

This informative blog post discusses key issues with drug testing.

  […]

Mick Palmer, who served as AFP commissioner from 1994 to 2001, says approaching ice use as social and health problem rather than a law enforcement issue would be more effective in curbing use and supply. “The whole aim of our illicit drug policy at the moment is harm minimisation. We’ve done nothing to minimise harm over 40 or 50 years, in fact in many ways we aggravate it,” he said ahead of a public forum in Brisbane on Wednesday. […]

Queensland’s “stupid” rate of incarceration should push the state government towards legalising recreational drug supply, a former state jails boss has said. Keith Hamburger also hopes the Palaszczuk government will embrace proposals for Aboriginal-owned “rehabilitation healing” centres for Indigenous offenders, of whom there are “probably 1,000” now in jail who “don’t need to be in there”. […]

“This shouldn’t be the playing field for experimentation, just because you think it might work. Let’s listen to the experts in this area and stop doing this kind of nasty stereotyping – that the reason you’re on unemployment payments is because you’ve got a drug and alcohol addiction.” […]

VCOSS CEO Emma King told Pro Bono News “nobody with heart” could support the policy. “We applaud the Victorian Government refusal to play the Commonwealth’s cruel game,” King said. “Drug testing and then punishing vulnerable job seekers will neither find them a job nor help them get off drugs. […]

Colombia’s government dismissed US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s claim that “it is necessary to resume fumigation” of coca, the base ingredient for cocaine, reported newspaper El Tiempo. Disregarding Tillerson’s opinion, the Colombian government is bound to the peace deal that allows the spraying of chemicals only as a last resort and has no intention of changing the crop substitution strategy. […]

When I heard Scott Morrison’s announcement, I thought, Well, that’s welfare done. I guess I’ll be avoiding it altogether. And I know that others like me, too, will feel that burn. Maybe that’s what some people hope will happen—for “dole bludging drug addicts” to be punished. But a welfare system that penalises addicts for lapsing is one that fundamentally misunderstands addiction. […]

The Victorian Government has said it will not cooperate with the Federal Government’s proposed plan to test welfare recipients for illicit drugs. “It simply won’t work, and it’s cheap, populist nonsense designed to create a smokescreen as to what really drives disadvantage,” Victoria’s Mental Health Minister Martin Foley told 7.30. […]

With the best intentions in the world, we simply cannot arrest and imprison our way out of the problem. We must be prepared to try new ideas and approaches. […]

The National Drug Research Institute says a trial of “sensible, contained and targeted drug-checking services” at Australia’s music festivals is “much-needed”. But the Curtin University-based group said this would only happen if political leaders “instruct health and law enforcement to work together and make it happen”. […]

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) said testing facilities should be ‘standard’ at festivals so revellers can assess the strength and content of the drugs they are considering taking. Drug safety testing pilots at the Secret Garden Party and Kendall Calling festivals last summer, with the support of local police and public health officials, reduced the amount of potentially harmful substances circulating on site, RSPH said. […]

No one in the field is claiming that MSICs will solve the state’s drug problem — the coroner’s report explicitly said they were not the “silver bullet” — but when displayed alongside the state’s other harm minimisation policies centred on drug use, it would seem surely seem like a natural step? […]

“South America’s war against drugs has been absurd, with catastrophic results no matter which indicators you consider, including consumption. If Uruguay’s experience turns out positive, it will be easier for other countries such as Colombia or Mexico, mired in huge problems with powerful narcos, to find a better solution than the disastrous one implemented so far.” […]

“Whilst it is understandable why some might presume that drug testing is a useful strategy, it is high in cost, may have unintended adverse outcomes, and raises serious ethical and legal issues,” the paper said. “Its drawbacks may be addressed, at least in part, if it is clearly demonstrated that drug testing effectively meets its aims and reduces risk. […]

Greens senator Rachel Siewert said the US experience showed drug testing welfare recipients was not effective. “Looking overseas, what is becoming clear is the drug testing policy is introduced or proposed for purely political reasons, as a way of saying to voters ‘we are taking action on drug use’, Australia deserves better than this, we need evidence-based policy,” Siewert said. […]

It should not take extrajudicial killings in the Philippines in 2017 to make the world realise that global drug prohibition has turned out to be an expensive way of making a bad problem much worse. […]

“This is the first time that there has been no increase since we started monitoring coverage of harm reduction services in 2008. Access to one of the most important HIV prevention and harm reduction services is stagnating, while rates of injecting drug use are increasing.” […]

Nearly one third of the 545 Australians currently imprisoned or facing charges overseas were convicted or arrested for drug-related crimes, according to the latest figures from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Many are in countries where conviction on drug charges may attract the death penalty. […]

The researchers behind the 2016 Global Drug Survey say the huge investment in policing illicit drugs in some Western countries including Australia was misguided, had little impact, and put drug uses at risk of immediate and long-term harms. […]

The President of the WA branch of the Australian Medical Association says he will continue to push the debate over decriminalisation of drugs for personal use, despite authorities taking a strong stand against it. […]

Drug possession for personal use should be decriminalised in WA, says the State’s peak doctors group, which is calling for a radical new approach to the war on drugs. Australian Medical Association WA president Dr Andrew Miller said it was time for a public debate on whether drug abuse should be treated as a health issue instead of a law and order problem. […]

The new round of approvals brings the number of federally sanctioned sites to nine, significantly expanding what was once a radical intervention limited to a single location in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Such facilities, run by local health agencies, allow users to consume illicit drugs in the presence of health workers who can intervene in the event of an overdose. […]

Donald Trump’s praise for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s murderous anti-drug campaign drew condemnation from leading foreign policy voices in both parties Wednesday, who were shocked the president would encourage what the State Department describes as “extrajudicial killings.” […]

Videos and recounts of the crackdown are horrific: 900 militarized police officers viciously stormed through the area, arresting people suspected of using drugs. They evicted people who had been accessing voluntary treatment services, destroyed tents and temporary housing that had become people’s homes, and even blocked health professionals from providing relief to those harmed in the operation. […]

Russia’s abrupt, public shutdown of substitution therapy in Crimea in 2014 is one of the oddest and cruellest stories of the annexation. Russia claimed it incorporated the peninsula to protect local Russian-speakers from what it called a nationalist, fascist government that had come to power after months of demonstrations in Kiev forced President Yanukovych to flee. […]

The argument to criminalize “street drugs,” and severely punish their sellers and users, is largely based on the assumption that a “tough on crime” approach will reduce addiction and abuse of these dangerous substances. Criminalizing drug use consistently fails to address the health problems of addiction, and drives the drug trade underground where crime, violence and death flourish. […]

“The police and the Coalition government aren’t testing drivers for the drugs like benzos and cocaine that tend to be taken by middle and upper class Australia. This is despite the fact we can see they are serious contributors to road accidents. Instead the police focus is on drugs like cannabis and MDMA that are more commonly taken by young people and people on lower incomes.” […]

There’s a better way. It’s called harm reduction. This approach focuses on reducing the negative effects of drug use rather than on punishing people who use drugs in an often-futile attempt to make them stop. Harm reduction options like supervised injection facilities or drug consumption rooms have successfully prevented fatal overdoses and connected people to treatment in cities such as Vancouver, Sydney, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Zurich; there are 74 official drug consumption facilities in Europe alone. […]

“We realised the key is to convince local people who are being manipulated [by local politicians.] We try to convince people how harm reduction is good for them, even if they don’t use drugs, [and to recognise that] people who use drugs are part of the community”. […]

People who use drugs have come up with innovative strategies that help them reduce harm, including using marijuana to decrease crack use and mixing heroin with methamphetamine to moderate the effects of meth or prolong the duration of heroin’s effects, according to presentations at the 25th International Harm Reduction Conference (HR17) last week in Montréal. […]

The ink hasn’t quite dried on all the contracts, but the Loop will be providing drug testing at four or five commercial festivals. Add up all the guests at these events, and Fiona Measham believes some 500,000 people will have access to a potentially lifesaving service. All this is a result of consultations with police and local authorities, as opposed to government officials, with permission being granted at a local rather than national level. […]

It is abundantly clear that the aim is not to “stabilise lives and encourage people to participate in treatment”. If the Turnbull government genuinely wanted to help people into treatment it would direct what will undoubtedly be the very high costs of this program towards treatment. […]

Targeting and excluding people who use drugs is a terrible response to what is at its core a public health issue. This idea rests on the discredited view that illicit drug use is a “moral evil” as opposed to something 42 per cent of Australians have done at least once, and that getting tough is the appropriate response. […]

Some segment of the population is going to be injecting drugs: Do you want them doing it in a safe, clinical setting, or in a park? Stigmatizing a problem and driving it into the darkness only exacerbates it — which is why cities like Montreal should be applauded for taking a more thoughtful approach, even if it might seem a bit counterintuitive at first. […]

Integrated and coordinated service packages and partnerships with employers are likely to have longer term benefits, and provide better value than spending money on drug testing programs. Financial or welfare quarantining for people with severe problems may have a role as part of the overall approach, not be the centrepiece. […]

Scott Morrison’s federal budget has declared yet another “war on drugs”, announcing 5000 new welfare recipients will be required to undergo drug testing. Let’s be clear, there is no evidence these measures, which would target some of society’s most vulnerable people, would have any social benefit. […]

Many of our actions are now observable, searchable and traceable, and surveillance is more intrusive and extensive than ever. But the impact of this can fall more heavily on disadvantaged communities. So-called “random” drug testing is just another example of this worrisome trend. […]

In New Zealand, welfare recipients are drug tested as a precondition for getting certain jobs. But Ross Bell, the executive director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, said the program has fundamentally been “a waste of time”. […]

If a North Shore mum had to give a drug test before she claimed Family Tax Benefit Part B, Sunrise and Mamamia would be calling for Malcolm Turnbull’s head, but when it is just the dole bludgers everyone seems kind of cool with it. […]

If Australia had started a quarter century ago reforming its drug laws and carrying out a heroin trial, the bedraggled man in the photograph may well by now have been leading a normal and useful life, looking after his family, working for a living and paying his share of taxes. The exploitation of the man in the Daily Telegraph photo perpetuates the marginalisation of people who use drugs and further limits drug policy debate in Australia. […]

The Penington Institute has warned the government that targeting welfare recipients with drug testing will see an increase in crime and homelessness among Australia’s most vulnerable people. […]

The Federal Government’s plan to drug-test welfare recipients has been slammed by anti-poverty advocates who say it is a discriminatory tool for profiling vulnerable people. […]

Welfare advocates say the Coalition’s plan to drug-test welfare recipients undermines the fabric of Australia’s needs-based safety net, while drug experts are warning the trial could have “unintended consequences” on those in the throes of addiction, including driving them into criminality. […]

Until drug use is truly seen as a health issue and not one to be addressed via punitive measures, the stigma, discrimination, isolation and helplessness will remain. This program will not result in helping people but rather increase their likelihood of moving into a life of crime and homelessness. […]

HRA Welfare Drug-Testing Statement […]

The Turnbull government has denounced Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs that left has thousands dead, declaring Canberra is “deeply concerned” about reports of extrajudicial killings. […]

Countries across the world put the Philippines on notice over its deadly drug war on Monday, demanding an end to extrajudicial killings by President Rodrigo Duterte’s security services.

  […]

The evidence is overwhelming: our current drug laws aren’t working. As governments worldwide admit defeat in the war on drugs, it’s past time for New Zealand to make drug law reform a priority, writes former MP Laila Harre. […]

“Badly thought-out policies,” Agnes Callamard said, not only fail to address the problem of illegal drugs but “compound” them. The “compounded” problems include killings, criminal gangs, breakdown of the rule of law, vigilante crimes, illegal detention of suspects, among others, Callamard said […]

We collected data on what we tested, what we found and what people said they were going to do with that information. It is hoped that releasing this will show that this practice has a tangible public health benefit, to show that individuals or groups can help keep themselves, their crew and the people around them safe. […]

The unemployed 22-year-old has been buying chemicals online with money from his mum and plans to provide DIY reagent kits to punters heading to the Canberra leg of Groovin on the weekend. He’s posted a mobile number on his Facebook page and is asking punters who want to test their drugs to contact him in the lead up to the event. […]

The arguments supporting pill testing are persuasive and are often made by health and law enforcement advocates with decades of relevant experience. Unfortunately, parliamentary politics is primarily focused on winning the next election. It can also be about threading effective policies through the political maze, while still surviving politically. As European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said recently: “We all know what to do, but we don’t know how to get re-elected once we have done it!” […]

With 20 countries already allowing pill testing at music festivals, it’s welcome news that the ACT government is open to a trial later this year. […]

A leading drug expert has slammed the State Government as “cowards” for scotching a Melbourne council’s bid to trial pill-testing machines at popular venues and festivals. […]

Vice President Leni Robredo suggested on Friday that the Philippines look to the example of Portugal, which made the radical decision of decriminalizing drug use in 2001, leading to lower drug-related deaths and declines in drug abuse among its citizens. […]

A prominent pill testing advocate has hit back at claims their proposal to provide the service at Canberra’s upcoming Groovin The Moo music festival was not well formed, saying the ACT government even knew the uniforms staff were going to wear. […]

A groundbreaking report was released last month on the future of drug policy in Australia. The report, Can Australia respond to drugs more effectively and safely? openly acknowledged the failure of Australia’s punitive drug policies and called for a steady path towards decriminalisation. […]

If Congress were to legalize medical marijuana nationwide for medicinal purposes, it could save the Medicaid program $1 billion in prescription drug costs, according to new study published in Health Affairs. […]

Public health experts have been lobbying for a drug-testing program at Canberra music festivals for years. They say the practice, which is mainstream in several other countries, helps protect revellers from bad or dangerous substances that could lead to overdoses. […]

Activists say that legalising marijuana will help patients to get high quality cannabis for their conditions, and by regulating the drug, the government can keep a tab on the criminality associated with it. […]

“Even though most people are for it, and we have the technology, pill testing is a topic no politician is brave enough to talk about. So it’s still illegal in Australia and people like my son continue to die,” says Adriana Buccianti. […]

The plan is entitled “The Cannabis Act” and will allow Canadians to buy and possess 30 grams of marijuana, or the equivalent in edibles or oil. Since the plan was introduced by the governing Liberal Party, which holds a majority in Parliament, it will almost certainly become law without significant change. […]

As Ombudsman Deborah Glass noted in a September 2015 report, while the public is understandably horrified by violent crime, the evidence does not show pouring funds into the correctional system is making us any safe. […]

The ministers traffic in votes and illusions, and finding drugs provides a false incentive for both. What is needed, as The Age editorial surmised in November last year, is a policy “in favour of a harm minimisation strategy based on decriminalisation, regulation and education.” Paramilitary approaches should be ditched, and resources channeled into health. […]