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. […]

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. […]