Canberra emergency department physician, Dr David Caldicott revealed the group was developing a proposal for a testing service at a fixed location. “We’re already working on static sites. I can’t tell you where, it’s top secret. But needless to say there are people in this room who are involved,” Dr Caldicott said. […]

Former NSW police commissioner Andrew Scipione says the system of dealing with people using drugs isn’t working, and has supported measures that give police the discretion to issue cautions or infringement notices. He told a roundtable on decriminalisation of amphetamine-type substances that NSW had failed to stop people from experimenting with drugs and going on to have lives that are”…

ACT Corrections and Justice Health Minister Shane Rattenbury has labelled the increasing number of people in Australian prisons “a national disgrace”, created in part by the treatment of drug use as a justice issue rather than a health one. He also said he would like to see the use of illicit drugs other than cannabis decriminalised. […]

Addiction expert Dr Stephen Bright told The New Daily “it’s absolutely probable” that Newstart and Youth Allowance recipients using any of the five targeted drugs would move on other substances that are undetectable by the test. “The drugs people move to as a way of evading drug testing are often significantly more harmful than the drugs they’re testing for,” Dr Bright, senior lecturer at Edith Cowan…

Drug testing of welfare recipients has been on the LNP agenda for quite a while now. As an ex-drug user who has successfully become stable and clean for a few years now, I can see that this idea will be impossible to orchestrate and carry out successfully without chaos and sky-high expense. […]

A coroner has rejected NSW police claims that reports on the force’s strip-search procedures are beyond the scope of an inquest into drug-related deaths at music festivals. Deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame on Thursday said she was satisfied the inquest could appropriately consider what police search practices had on the method of consumption of Ms Ross-King and young festival patrons…

The Australian Council of Social Service is among 40 welfare and medical groups who have previously warned against the plan, including the Australian Medical Association. “Many health experts have expressed concern that drug testing income support recipients is ineffective and could threaten the health and wellbeing of people affected,” Ms Phillip said. […]

RMIT University legal studies lecturer Dr Peta Malins said sniffer dogs ultimately failed to fulfil their purpose of striking the heart of the underground drug trade. Instead of catching dealers, they catch low-level users who might bring a single joint or a pill to a yearly festival. “The key thing I found is drug dogs are not deterring people from…

GP and addiction medicine specialist Dr Paul Grinzi told newsGP the new bill may still worsen outcomes in the longer term. ‘The Minister fails to understand that living with an addiction brings about issues of blame, stigma and shame,’ he said. ‘Drug testing these vulnerable members of our community is only going to perpetuating these issues, not “assist” in any sort of…

There is hope. Both academia and the legal profession have long declared that the war on drugs was lost. In 2011 a Law Commission review recommended the government repeal the Misuse of Drugs Act and create a new act under the ministry of health. The commission argued in favour of a health-based approach, particularly in cases with a strong element of addiction.…