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Outrage Grows Over NSW Government’s Backflip on Drug Law Reform

NSW premier Chris Minns last week shattered the drug law reform agenda he’d been spruiking pre-election. The Labor leader has pushed his drug summit back to the end of the term and said he has “no mandate” for decriminalising drugs on the day his party colleagues made it law in the ACT. […]

NSW Premier Says No to Drug Decriminalisation, as the ACT Embarks on Bold Health Approach

Finally, this week, drug decriminalisation came to Australian shores. Laws passed by a Labor Greens government in the ACT came into effect on Monday. Yet, on that very same day, NSW Labor premier Chris Minns decided to rain down on Canberra’s parade, telling the Murdoch press that his government isn’t contemplating drug decriminalisation at present, but if he is voted in again, it might contemplate it some time after that. […]

Why medical cannabis patients should be allowed to drive

An effective framework for allowing patients who use medical cannabis to drive is one that prioritises road safety while also recognising the importance of driving for freedom of movement and quality of life, write Dr Thomas Arkell and Associate Professor Vicki Kotsirilos AM. […]

CanTEST on their first 1000 drug tests

Canberra’s drug checking site has now tested 1000 substances.

The harm reduction service reported a majority of users disposing of their illicit drugs when testing found they contained unexpected and dangerous substances.

ABC’s Adam Shirley spoke with Stephanie Stephens, the Director of Service Delivery at Directions Health. […]

No doubting the need, Melbourne needs a second safe injecting room

If there is a lesson to be learnt from Melbourne’s first safe-injecting room in North Richmond, which the state government finally made permanent this month after a five-year trial, it’s that the success of such a facility relies on appeasing the community as much as managing what goes on inside. […]

‘Join the movement’: Minister calls for pill testing trial in NSW

A NSW minister has broken ranks to urge her Labor government colleagues to “join the nationwide movement” toward pill testing at music festivals, while also suggesting controversial policing tactics such as strip searches and drug-detection dogs should be part of the promised drug summit. […]

Australia becomes first country to recognise psychedelics as medicines

Associate Professor David Caldicott, an emergency department doctor who appeared at the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide to advocate the drugs be used for returned soldiers suffering from psychological trauma, said he was pleasantly surprised by Friday’s decision. […]