“Another reason is, does punishing a user of a drug, any drug, actually impact on their decision to use that drug? I don’t think so. People use drugs for various reasons. The thought of being prosecuted for such behaviour is obviously something they have considered briefly and then decided not to worry about it.” […]

We have a moral obligation to minimise the risk of harm to festival-goers or “festies”. Health professionals have the technology to act on this moral imperative – drug testing. What they don’t have is permission from our politicians and law enforcement agencies. […]

South Australian drug and alcohol service providers are urging a summit on the merits of festival pill testing after the controversial intervention was endorsed by a motion in the Senate earlier this month. […]

“There is so much scaremongering and hysteria surrounding the issue of drugs,” says Gloria Lai of the International Drug Policy Consortium, a global network of 154 non-governmental groups. “That’s a disincentive for challenging old ways of thinking.” […]

Australia’s broader drug policy is based on “harm minimisation”. This acknowledges it’s impossible to eliminate drugs from society and that most people will use drugs only occasionally and for a short period in their lives. So reducing harms associated with drug use is the priority. […]

The US leader calls for the rule of law after Rodrigo Duterte’s tirade on past US military killings in the Philippines. […]

Research shows that most people don’t know what’s in the drugs they consume. We took some drug testing kits to a dance music festival to find out. […]

It takes courage to pursue drug law reform in Australia and most politicians are locked into non-evidence based populisms. […]

The government is proving woefully unprepared to help the flood of users pledging to kick their habits, leaving almost all of them to battle addiction largely on their own. The country’s meager drug treatment facilities have been overwhelmed, creating a new crisis for Mr. Duterte as he presses ahead with his violent campaign to rid the nation of drug dealers.…

The Catholic church, human rights groups and even UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have criticised Duterte for his apparent support of extrajudicial killings. Critics have also charged that the police are mainly killing poor people in the slums while wealthy and influential suspects have been spared. […]