Dr Angella Duvnjak has been appointed CEO of the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL). […]

Tough love, interventions and 12-step programs are some of the most common methods of treating drug addiction, but journalist Maia Szalavitz says they’re often counterproductive. […]

Drugs, legal and illegal, are prevalent in Australian society. And over-consumption causes addiction, disfunction and death. But the illegal ones – those tested for by the NRL – are, according to experts, less harmful than the legal ones that sponsor rugby league. […]

The first step to solving a problem is admitting there is one. So together we must realise that the real problem is not the use of drugs, it is the fear and the subsequent belief we created that the criminal justice system is the answer. […]

It’s impossible to remove the stigma of addiction while drug use remains illegal – the two concepts are completely at odds with one another. […]

Another step toward mainstream medical acceptance of formerly “out-there” substances may involve turning them against other drugs. Across the US and UK, new clinical trials are using psychedelics in an attempt to treat addiction to everything from controlled substances to alcohol and cigarettes. […]

Thirty suspected drugs dealers were killed in the five days after he took office on June 30 and the death toll since his May 9 election win is far higher than that recorded in the previous four months.The drugs war has triggered alarm among human rights groups, lawyers and the clergy who say “summary executions” should stop. […]

Australia cannot arrest and imprison our way out of our drug problems. Yet as Australia struggles with increasing problems from ice use, we haven’t been prepared to try innovative approaches that appear to have worked overseas. […]

“Despite best efforts…, we have achieved virtually nothing,” says former AFP Commissioner Mick Palmer. “We’ve aggravated harm rather than minimised it. We’ve demonised users… The reality is, people are going to take ice. It’s time to take the risk and trial new options because, as evidence demonstrates elsewhere, it’s working.” […]

If we want a better 21st century drug policy, we need to grapple with what drug experience means and not simply assume that a drug is a drug is a drug—and that being high is always worthless and inevitably leads to unhappiness in the end. […]