Harm Reduction Australia welcomes the announcement in tonight’s Federal Budget that will see $377.3m over 4 years (with $98.4m ongoing) invested in making access more affordable under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for the Opioid Dependence Treatment Program (ODTP).
[…]HRA Media RSS feed for this section
Queensland Confirms Drug Law Reform but is the ‘Devil Still in the Detail’?
HRA remains concerned with the number of people to be excluded – see our 23 Feb Media Release
[…]Groovin the Moo fails to secure pill testing again as insurers remain risk averse
Pill testing will not be available onsite at this year’s Groovin the Moo festival in Canberra after exorbitant insurance premiums meant the service was too costly to offer, but CanTEST is expanding its services on the festival weekend. […]
Canberra’s Groovin the Moo music festival will again be without pill-testing, as insurance becomes 22 times more expensive
Groovin the Moo will be without pill-testing when it returns to Canberra later this month. […]
HRA & PTA Media Release – 17 April 2023
Pill testing is coming to Queensland. Here’s what can we learn from programs overseas
Queensland’s move aligns the state with a growing international norm. In fact, the evidence to support such services has existed for decades.
[…]
Queensland Pill Testing – HRA Interview
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“Get on with the job”: Greater push for injecting room as health teams face more CBD overdoses
Pointing to new data that revealed an increase in heroin overdose deaths, Cohealth says some “would still be alive” if a safe injecting facility was available in the CBD. […]
Canberra’s Free Pill-Testing Service Shows Most Ket Isn’t Ket
“There’s a storyline that drug users don’t care and they’re reckless and don’t give a shit about their own health, but it’s just not true.” […]
ACT extends confidential pill-testing service CanTEST as evaluation shows most users discard tainted drugs
“The lack of pill testing services outside Canberra is an ongoing tragedy for far too many people and families, and begs the question of how much more evidence is required for these services to be established,” Mr Vumbaca said. […]
We’ve detected a potent opioid in Canberra. Here’s what we know about it
Australia’s first government-sanctioned drug-checking service CanTEST has issued its inaugural ‘red alert’, the highest level of warning, following the detection of metonitazene in a yellow pill masquerading as the pharmaceutical drug oxycodone. We should be very worried about this drug’s emergence in Australia. […]
HRA Statement on NSW Govt response to the Special Commission on Ice
This whole process has almost been a complete waste of money and time for everyone involved.
[…]Letter to NSW Premier
Its Time for Drug Law Reform
[…]
HRA Biennial Survey 2021-22
Insurance companies have betrayed the community on pill-testing
HRA Executive Director Appointed
Media Release 17 Feb 2022
[…]An Australian First – Fixed Site Pill Testing Announced
7 Oct 2021 – Media Release
[…]
Pill Testing Update – Media Release
26 August 2020
[…]HRA Letter to Minister re ODT Program Post Market Review
Media Release – 9th Feb 2021
Call for Federal Health Minister to immediately remove the discriminatory and unlawful payments plaguing the opioid treatment system
[…]Alex Wodak AO address to the Vatican
Important 2018 Document
[…]HRA Media Release 3rd Feb 2021
Pharmacy Guild Submission Supports Opioid Medication Reform
[…]Letter to NSW Attorney General
Drug Law Reform Is Desperately Needed, Yet Berejiklian Refuses to See Reason
When we discuss drug use in society, let us first remember that most illicit drug use is not problematic and secondly, that if someone we know or love does experience problems, we would want the best help, support and treatment available for them and their family. Its time all our politicians realised, as many voting citizens in the USA have just done, that our current drug policies and laws are not fit for purpose and cause preventable harms and intolerable human rights violations for far too many people. […]
As a police commander, I used to ask myself: was drug use really a matter of crime?
Anything that reduces the antagonism between would-be offenders and the cops is worthwhile. The latter may well then be seen as a catalyst for getting help, therefore making it a far safer situation for all. Allowing police to focus on diversion instead of arresting and charging is going to make the job of police far safer than what it is today. […]
HRA letter to Federal Health Minister re. Senate Estimates
HRA transcript extract of Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee hearing
HRA Survey Results – 2019
David Heilpern Letter to Swinburne University – Roadside Drug Testing
HRA Budget Submission Media Release – 2 Sept 2020
Media Release 6 March 2020
HRA Welcomes New Board Members
HRA is pleased to announce 4 new Board Members
[…]Joint Media Release re NSW Ice Special Commission Report
A joint media release from HRA, Take Control & Pill Testing Australia regarding the NSW Special Commission on Ice Report being handed to the NSW Government
11 Nov 2019 Media Release
Families Respond to NSW Coroner’s Report on Festival Deaths
https://mailchi.mp/c8fea066b17c/media-release-11-nov-2231473 […]
2nd Pill Testing Pilot Media Release – 29 April 2019
Consortium asked to test pills by festival promoters Australia-wide
“We’ve been getting calls from promoters all around the country wanting us to do pill testing, there’s been a change in momentum,” Mr Vumbaca said. “They do a hell of a lot of work in maintaining patron safety and protecting the health of patrons. While program like ours is not a silver bullet, it’s part of a suite of measures they’d like to have available.
Disappointment As Pill Testing Overlooked In Festival Safety Review
Harm Reduction Australia have spoken out in reaction to the Berejiklian government’s decision to introduce harsher laws for drugs at festivals. […]
Premier had a chance to save lives at music festivals. She blew it
The next time someone dies at a music festival and their family asks why and whether pill testing could have made a difference I guess the answer in NSW is – sorry, we don’t talk about that here. […]
HRA-IDPC Media Release on Global Drug Strategy 22nd October 2018
The lost decade in the global war on drugs – New report shows 10-year United Nations drug strategy set to conclude in colossal failure
Vienna, 22 October 2018 – A report released today by the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) has exposed the United Nations 10-year global strategy aimed to eradicate the illegal drug market by 2019 as a spectacular failure of policy and urged a re-think of its new strategy for the next decade. […]
New Signatories: Trans-Tasman Charter on Pill Testing
HRA welcomes our colleagues from across the world as new signatories to the Charter – including important organisations in Australia such as Family Drug Support and the ACT Greens.
Trans-Tasman Charter for Pill Testing
On behalf of the STA-SAFE Consortium and our colleagues in New Zealand – we are please to release the Trans-Tasman Charter for Pill Testing.
We are also encouraging organisations and individuals that support the principles outlined in this charter contacting Harm Reduction Australia to be listed as signatory.
Trans Tasman Charter for Pill Testing – Final
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Support sought for more pill testing
Harm Reduction Australia is hoping to raise $100,000 to roll out more music festival pill testing trials, following the success of the first pilot in Canberra. […]
GINO VUMBACA. Drug Reform series-At last, a government sanctioned pill testing program
Governments across the country need to publicly acknowledge that our health and law enforcement systems have worked, and can continue to work, effectively together in the grey areas of life. No-one wants to see young people (or any people) harmed from drug use but to simply believe that we have the ability to prevent supply and prevent drug use is at best fanciful and at worst tragic. […]
TONY TRIMINGHAM. Drug Reform Series-Don’t punish drug users. Help them instead.
The need for drug policy reform remains as urgent as ever. We need to talk to our politicians, write to the newspapers, enlist the support of young people who are so often damaged by current drug policies. By educating people on the pitfalls of current drug policy, we stand a chance of getting the community onside. […]
Drug users shouldn’t be treated like criminals
When I am asked by people at the ceremony why people using drugs are treated as criminals and pursued by the law, I have to be honest and say I don’t know why, in the face of all the evidence, we have governments that still prefer to punish rather than help. […]
National Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Dependence (MATOD) Summit Report
A Better System for Better Outcomes
Harm Reduction Australia and ScriptWise are calling for improvements in opioid treatment due to the current lack of availability, acceptability and affordability of treatment for affected Australians.
Pill Testing Correspondence to All Governments
Harm Reduction Australia has written to the Federal, State & Territory Governments, as well as Opposition Leaders and Shadow Ministers to offer pill testing in their jurisdictions.
See the letters here:
Pill Testing letter to All Govts & Oppositions – July 2018 […]
Media Release – Pill Testing Pilot Report – 20 June 2018
Report on the Pill Testing Pilot – ACT June 2018
Pill Testing Pilot- ACT June 2018 – Final Report
Prepared by the Safety Testing Advisory Service At Festivals and Events (STA-SAFE) Consortium […]
National MATOD Summit Agenda for 23 May 2018 in Canberra
National Summit in Canberra to Plan Improvements for Opioid Treatment
Harm Reduction Australia and ScriptWise are joining forces to host a national summit in Canberra on May 23 to re-think outdated policies and increase access to opioid treatment. The current system, the two organisations say, must be updated to ensure Australia avoids continuing on a trajectory towards the opioid crisis currently being seen in the US. […]
Pill Testing Media Release – 30 April 2018
On behalf of our STA-SAFE consortium partners, Harm Reduction Australia would like to advise that the first pill testing trial to ever be held in Australia took place in Canberra on Sunday the 29th of April.
HRA & ADF Media Release on Victorian Parliamentary Report into Drug Law Reform
Opioid Treatment Programs – 2017 Forum Reports
HRA held three OTP forums in 2017. Reports on each of the forums are now available:
QLD MATOD Forum – October 2017 Report
Ineffective drug policies can no longer be ignored
Here is a plan for governments of all persuasions in 2018:
1. Convene a national summit to commit to introducing policies that reduce drug harm.
2. Redirect funding from ineffective policies and practices to those that are effective.
3. Stop criminalising people for the simple act of possessing or using drugs and expunge the existing records of people with such convictions […]
HRA National Survey Results
Pill Testing Blocked – HRA Media Release
ACT Government announces pill testing
Heroin Assisted Treatment Statement Signatories
Heroin Assisted Treatment Statement
Australia should start providing Heroin Assisted Treatment […]
HRA and ScriptWise Victorian Stakeholder Engagement Day
Report of the Harm Reduction Australia and Scriptwise stakeholder engagement day held in Victoria. […]
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Joint Submission […]
HRA Member Survey Results
HRA & FDS Submission to the Victorian Parliament Law Reform, Road and Community Safety Committee
The latest HRA Newsletters
It’s Important To Understand Pill Testing Before We Condemn It
The NSW Government has no reason to be fearful of a forum to debate and discuss policies that affect so many of its citizens’ lives. It is an opportunity to review the evidence, understand the impact of current laws and policies and develop effective approaches that make communities, families and people healthier and safer. […]
Safe Injection Rooms Would Save Lives
The idea that rooms are provided to allow people to take drugs like crystal methamphetamine needs to be taken seriously. When my son Damien died in 1997, the idea of injecting facilities and prescription heroin drew my attention but I was cautious about them. Rather than dismiss them out of hand I took it upon myself to visit Switzerland and see them functioning in Geneva and Berne. […]
Confronting the ‘meth monster’
The first step to solving a problem is admitting there is one. So together we must realise that the real problem is not the use of drugs, it is the fear and the subsequent belief we created that the criminal justice system is the answer. […]
Drug Policy Based On Fear Means Everyone Loses
If evidence-based drug policy is something you want to see in this country and is more important to you than public moralising, misguided beliefs and a fanciful goal of a drug free world, then this is your how-to-vote card to take with you on the 2nd of July. […]
HRA 2016 Election Policy Guide
Drug Harm Index Paper
Earlier this year HRA asked Dr Michael McFadden to prepare a paper on the Drug Harm Index, used by some law enforcement agencies, for use on our website. […]
International Harm Reduction Day, 7 May 2016
HRA is pleased to be part of a coalition of organisations recognising the 7th of May each year as International Harm Reduction Day. […]
HRA 2016 Budget Summary
HRA has prepared a summary of how the 2016 Budget affects you. […]
Uniting calls for a re-think on drugs
Uniting, the services and advocacy arm of the Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of NSW and the ACT, is calling for a re-think on illegal drug use. […]
The latest HRA Newsletter
When it comes to handling drugs, we need to be transparent
Given that many countries are talking seriously about the need to change the international treaties, and the abject failure of a law-enforcement approach for addressing drug use, the pressure will be on Australia to decide if it remains in the small band of countries fighting a ‘war on drugs’ or becomes part of the growing movement for change, which even includes the USA these days. […]
HRA UNGASS and NDS Statement
Australia was once a world leader in drug policy and addressing HIV and related diseases but over the years this has sadly diminished as our leaders have become politically fearful of evidence that highlights a need for change. […]
Civil Society Statement on the UNGASS outcome document
Diplomacy or denialism? […]
The war on drugs has become an embarrassment of Orwellian proportions
Another week passes and, somewhere in Australia, another announcement by a Justice Minister is made on how we are winning the so-called ‘War on Drugs’. […]
Getting tough on crime needs a softer approach
The current overcrowding in NSW prisons left little political room to manoeuvre, and so the announcement of a decision to add an additional 1650 beds was to be expected. […]
The war on drugs is a war against our own children, friends and families
Our current drug laws largely penalise the young and poor, not the drug kingpins you’d expect. […]
HRA Ice Strategy Statement
Harm Reduction Australia has welcomed the Federal Government’s first step to shift from a law enforcement focus to a health based approach to addressing drug issues in Australia. […]
Statement from HRA on the tragic death of Ms Sylvia Choi
Harm Reduction Australia is extremely saddened by the loss of yet another young life from drug use and extends its sympathies to Sylvia Choi’s family and friends. […]
Launch of Harm Reduction Australia
Australia’s first national harm reduction organisation for individuals committed to reducing the health, social and economic harms potentially associated with drug use – Harm Reduction Australia (HRA) – was launched at Parliament House in Canberra. […]