• Decriminalisation and supervised drug consumption: call for leadership in Tasmania on drug reform

    Ms Alison Lai said making drug use a criminal issue had been a proven failure throughout the world, and decriminalisation was a key step in making it a health issue. “If police find someone on the street and they are in possession of a couple of caps of ecstasy, for example, they get a warning, the drugs are confiscated and,…

  • How Many More Experts Must Recommend Pill Testing Before The Government Makes It Happen?

    The Inquiry recommendations were not made lightly. They are the results of months and months of reviewing the evidence, including speaking to experts, people with lived experience, and their advocates. Many of them would significantly improve the lives of people who use drugs, and contribute to a fairer and more just society. […]

  • Pressure for permanent pill-testing service in Canberra after successful festival trials

    Greens leader and Minister for Mental Health Shane Rattenbury acknowledged there were many in the community still uncomfortable with pill testing, but said the debate had to move on. “It’s been effective in potentially saving young lives. For me, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “I would hate to see a young person die because they wanted to experiment, they…

  • Drug Alerts: Warning the Public About Toxic Batches of Illicit Drugs

    The war on drugs has been hailed an abject failure. And a prime example as to why is that prohibition has resulted in a rise in the availability of illegal drugs, as well as increased levels of consumption. And without any quality control, no one has any idea of what they’re actually taking. […]

  • NSW commission recommends more injecting clinics to stem tide of ice

    A NSW special commission of inquiry into crystal methamphetamine has recommended the decriminalisation of illicit drugs, the statewide expansion of injecting clinics, and drug testing facilities for users at fixed sites, under a dramatic overhaul of existing policies criticised for failing to stem addiction around Australia. As a fundamental first step, Commissioner Dan Howard SC also emphasised what a chorus…

  • Hand-picked commissioner slams government’s ‘tired, unimaginative’ drug policies

    The state government has been left embarrassed after the professor hand-picked to solve the ice crisis landed ministers with a raft of suggestions they have already rejected. Opening up more injecting rooms, ditching drug detection dogs at music festivals, limiting strip searches, making ice pipes legal, and decriminalising the personal use of ice were among the controversial recommendations handed down…

  • Australia’s war on drugs is a failure

    When policymakers consider how ongoing drug use trends combine with this new threat, it is clear that current and previous drug strategies will not be an effective tool, and lack the necessary ability to truly tackle this issue. A strong policy response to these problems will require innovative approaches that shift Australia from where it currently is to where it…

  • Growing push for Sydney’s second medically supervised injecting room

    The Berejiklian government is facing a growing push to set up a safe injecting room in western Sydney as data on overdose deaths show the opioid crisis has spread to the outer suburbs. Criminologists are the latest to call for a second injecting room after a recommendation from Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame, who said politics should not stop “sound…

  • ‘No excuse’: Doctors urge immediate release of ice inquiry report

    Doctors and drug law reform advocates are calling on the NSW government to urgently release the findings of a special commission of inquiry into the drug ice. The four-volume report was delivered to the Berejiklian government by commissioner Professor Dan Howard on January 28, but the government has not publicly shared its findings or committed to a release date. […]

  • NZ: Universities called on to make drug testing kits available during Orientation Week

    Wendy Allison said it was “about time universities stepped up” and used their own spectrometers to give students better access to testing services. Five student associations said they welcomed the prospect of  drug testing at upcoming orientation weeks, but only one – the Otago University Students’ Association – was able to do so.  […]