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The federal government has invested $300 million into ice education and rehabilitation but Dr Wodak, a former director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, argues a more progressive policy is needed. “I’m not suggesting for a minute that we take money off law enforcement but we need to put serious money into prevention”. […]

Trauma, mental ill-health, housing insecurity, poverty and so on are not the fault of the individual in a society increasingly aware of how many people are left behind and ignored in the minority’s pursuit of wealth. They do increase the attraction of drugs that can numb the severity of bitter reality. […]

Pursuing these same, tired war-on-drugs strategies might seem like a show of strength. But it will take real courage for politicians to acknowledge the need for a new approach. In the meantime, let’s take claims about the value of drug seizures with a grain of salt. […]

Thirty-four people died in my neighbourhood last year from overdoses that might have been avoided by providing drug users with a place that is carefully monitored by staff and social workers so they can inject with sterile equipment and dispose of needles safely instead of accidental overdoses occurring and syringes ending up in our streets. […]

In a landmark ruling this morning, the Western Cape High Court in South Africa ruled that keeping weed illegal is unconstitutional. The decision marks a significant change in South Africa’s cannabis laws, effectively legalizing private cannabis use. […]

We should just say no to antiquated, ineffective and regressive strategies and policies for drug misuse prevention, and to demonizing complicated behaviors that are often initiated out of trauma, for capital gains in the prison system. Sessions, it seems, wants to further stigmatize and criminalize trauma. To this, I just say no. […]

Mick Palmer spent decades locking up drug users, first as a policeman and eventually as the head of the Australian Federal Police. Now, Palmer—along with other law enforcement officers and politicians—is calling for the widespread decriminalization of drugs in Australia in order to turn the tide against a drug enforcement policy that has been shown not to work. […]

The report, entitled “Can Australia respond to drugs more effectively and safely?”, makes 13 recommendations around minimising drug-related harm and the burden on the criminal justice system. Among them are reducing and, where possible, eliminating penalties for possession and use; expanding health and social assistance for young people struggling with drug addiction; and undermining the black market with a regulated “white” market. […]

The Australia21 report has the backing of former police commissioners and assistant commissioners, two former heads of Corrective Services, a former Supreme Court Judge and a former Director of Public Prosecutions. […]

Ingrid van Beek, who has been at the forefront of providing health care for drug users, sex workers and homeless people in around Sydney’s Kings Cross for 30 years, is calling for drug use to be decriminalised. […]

Since Mokbel was jailed, the flow of drugs has only grown. He brought them in by containers; now syndicates have their own ships. He was a smart local entrepeneur; now Australia is targeted by international cartels, well aware we pay the highest prices in the world. The truth is we are worse off now than when Mokbel was grabbed 10 years ago.  […]

As State Government officials tour the state for a series of Ice Taskforce roundtables, people at the frontline of the Australia’s ice epidemic have told the Sunday Mail the police-based “war on drugs” approach is failing. Instead, they say a greater focus on health services, funding for treatment programs and “safe use” information is the key to beating the ice scourge that has gripped many parts of SA. […]

(W)ho are the drug reform movement? We’re people who love drugs, people who hate drugs, and we’re the people who don’t give a damn about drugs. But every one of us believes that the war on drugs is not the right way to deal with it. And that weaving together of a movement is the thing that I’ve (…) taken the greatest pleasure and pride in. […]

We cannot allow our national drugs policy to be dictated by the feelings of ageing shock jocks, and conservative politician desperate to cling to power at any cost. We must stick to the facts. It is the only way to save lives. […]

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the perceived clash between medicinal cannabis and our decades-long commitment to drug prohibition is now the major impediment slowing the introduction of medicinal cannabis in Australia. […]

In a new annual report, the INCB says ‘extrajudicial action, purportedly taken in pursuit of drug control objectives, is fundamentally contrary to the provisions and objectives’ of international drug conventions. […]

A February 21 Essential Media poll found majority support for the push, with 57% of Australians supporting a roll-out of pill testing services. Only 13% of those polled opposed the idea. […]

A Human Rights Watch report released on Wednesday (Mar 3) stated that the police and gangs or vigilantes are often one and the same. The report said: “In several cases we investigated, the police dismissed allegations of involvement and instead classified such killings as ‘found bodies’ or ‘deaths under investigation’ when only hours before the suspects had been in police custody.” […]

Local photographers on the frontline of Duterte’s drug war reflect on the images that moved them most. […]

Drug testing at music festivals is very much about intervention and encouraging behavioural changes, rather than just drily delivering a result. We know from research that the majority of consumers would not take a pill if test results indicated the substance wasn’t what they thought it was. […]

Such facilities are often a gateway for connecting marginalised and disadvantaged people to vital health care and other support services. This includes, for those who want it, alcohol and drug treatment services. Most importantly, supervised drug injection facilities around the world have prevented many fatal drug overdoses. And Sydney’s Medically Supervised Injecting Centre has overseen nearly one million injections and managed over 6,000 overdoses without a single death. […]

There will be more deaths in the months to come, and as the disparity between expert recommendation and government action becomes more apparent, so will the anger of (voting) parents and loved ones. And every time there is another tragic, unnecessary loss of a precious, precious young Australian, those who stand in the way of what the health community is demanding — now — need to take a long hard look at themselves. […]

An insidious assumption of the diseased brain theory is that any use of certain drugs is considered pathological, even the non-problematic, recreational use that characterizes the experience of the overwhelming majority who ingest these drugs. For example, in a popular US anti-drug campaign, it is implied that one hit of methamphetamine is enough to cause irrevocable damage […]

Duterte is looking to ramp things up further by lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 15 all the way down to 9. A bill that would do just that was actually introduced right around the time he was sworn in, and one of its co-authors says he expects it to be approved by the nation’s congress within the next six months. […]

Fear drives poor policy, policy that focuses on “crackdowns”, “zero tolerance” and scare campaigns. None of these things is effective. We know what reduces drug related harms in the community is a focus on support, on keeping people alive and on access to treatment. […]

“If you have problematic injecting drug use and a number of people are requiring ambulance attendance because of overdose and a number of people are dying of accidental overdose and discarded equipment is in the streets, there’s public use going on and the local business community and local residents are sick of that and you’re lucky enough to have local police and council to support you, you tell me what the evidence based reasoning is not to open a proven service.” […]

So what’s the solution? Legalization. Yes, legalize marijuana, which is the number one producer of wealth for the cartels. End the federal prohibition, reschedule cannabis, invest in research and infrastructure, support medical advances and improve upon the nation’s economy all the while ending the war on drugs and dismantling the illicit market, which thrives on prohibition. […]

A longstanding relationship between two countries means being able to stand up for what’s right. Australia has to be prepared to deliver difficult messages, not becoming indulgent of, or indifferent to, murder on a mass scale, like what we’re seeing in the Philippines. […]

Incarcerated addicts shouldn’t be denied the health protections that are available to everyone else. The government should have faith in its evidence-based approach, and bring harm reduction inside prison walls. […]

A call to introduce pill testing in Victoria has been shut down by the state government. A spokeswoman for Health Minister Martin Foley told the Leader there were no plans to introduce it, despite the three deaths in Melbourne earlier this month. […]

Today law enforcement agencies continue to receive more than 65 per cent of the national drug budget to arrest people using drugs — so rather just saying we can’t arrest our way out of a drug problem, maybe it’s time to actually do something different. […]

The Philippines police will disband anti-drugs units following the killing of a South Korean businessman by rogue officers, but President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to forge ahead with his war on drugs until the last day of his term. […]

Law enforcement attempts to interrupt the supply of illicit drugs are neither effective nor cost effective and they produce substantial collateral damage. Change is starting to happen in some countries and will eventually start in Australia. […]

“Corruption is in government offices, but there are 80 percent of Catholics in government. If there’s corruption and murder, it’s because Filipinos do not practice their faith.” […]

No organisations or individuals — not governments, police, teachers or even parents — have ever been able to stop young people using drugs. The exasperating truth is that all we can do as a society, and as parents, is to make it as safe as possible when they experiment with drugs. […]

“We’ve got the best medical set up and response team in Australia…and we’re trying to give people harm minimisation strategies for looking after themselves. This is not about ideology, this is about saving human lives.” […]

Greens health spokeswoman Colleen Hartland said a government-backed testing regime would be able to issue public alerts about dangerous drugs that could save lives. The push for drug testing comes after a bad batch of ecstasy was blamed for up to 20 overdoses around Chapel Street over the weekend. […]

This plea is not about permitting people to use drugs whenever they want — it is a plea for evidence-based harm reduction policies and programs. […]

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has called for needle and syringe programs (NSPs) to be introduced in prisons and other custodial settings, to reduce the spread of Blood Borne Viruses including hepatitis B and C, and HIV. […]

Dr Alex Wodak supports the introduction of pill testing in night clubs and at festivals and raves. ‘The principle is simple, every drug death of a young, fit, healthy Australian could largely if not totally be prevented,’ said Dr Wodak. […]

The reality is that if the two million Australians who use cannabis every year cannot purchase supplies from a legal, regulated market, they will obtain their supplies from a black market. A legal, regulated market would free up more than 60,000 thousand arrests-worth of police resources and eliminate a major source of funding for organised crime. […]

The most important question we should ask ourselves is not whether we need another drug consumption rooms in Australia, but why only one such centre has been established in the country despite their very positive national and international record. […]

As a new year begins so does the effort continue to make Australia a safer and more humane country in how we deal with people who use drugs.

Here are five changes that would make a real difference.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/gino-vumbaca/its-time-to-face-the-music-on-australias-flawed-drug-policy/ […]