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Supervised Drug-Injection Sites Are Spreading in Canada
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…
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Helping drug users get back to work, not random drug testing, should be our priority
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. […]
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Drug testing could have catastrophic consequences for welfare recipients
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. […]
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Drug testing welfare recipients raises questions about data profiling and discrimination
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. […]
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New Zealand organisations say drug testing for welfare ‘not the best use of funds’
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”. […]
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Any dignity left down the toilet
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. […]
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Telegraph exploits man and exposes Australia’s failed and futile drug policy
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…
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Scott Morrison’s plan to test sewage for drug use ‘might misfire’, say experts
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. […]
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Centrelink accused of plan to ‘profile’ vulnerable drug users in welfare crackdow
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. […]
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Drug-testing will demonise Australians on welfare, experts say
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. […]
