An Australian drug addiction treatment expert says New Zealand should introduce supervised meth inhalation facilities. Youth addiction sector worker Matt Noffs said New Zealand’s innovative approach to treating drug addiction has worked in the past and should continue. […]

With any psychoactive substance, the balance between help and harm depends on the person and the circumstances. […]

We need to rethink our approach to drug treatment and management in prisons to control the spread of infectious diseases – in Australia and abroad. Drug dependence is a health problem and should be treated as such. […]

“The majority of governments continue to ignore the strategic importance of prison health care to public health. Most strategies for dealing with infectious diseases in prisons focus on a zero-tolerance approach to drug users. The fact that infection rates are still climbing confirms that this approach does not work.” […]

Safe rooms represent a portal for health and social interventions. So safe rooms benefit people who use drugs and their families and their communities. They are not a solution to our drug problems; there is no solution. But they are part of the response intended to more effectively respond to illicit drugs. […]

The Human Rights Watch said it was appalled by the death penalty verdict by a Vietnam criminal court against an Australian grandmother for drug trafficking. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, was highly critical of Vietnam’s policy to apply the death penalty for drug trafficking. […]

“The evidence speaks for itself. There are more than 130 research papers on drug consumption rooms around the world — it’s been deeply researched,” Mr Noffs said. He said it was a stepping stone to getting people into treatment and helped filter drug-related cases away from mainstream hospital emergency departments. […]

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…

Each tragedy that swells the ranks of the Anyone’s Child campaign is preventable, and each one further evidences the fact that legalising and regulating the UK’s supply of drugs will save lives. Nobody’s child needs to provide the government with another case study. […]

If we are genuine about reducing the harm caused by drugs we need education, regulation and health-based programs underpinned by evidence. The days of empty, chest beating calls for a war on drugs are hopefully over. […]