Illegal drugs including cocaine, heroin and cannabis should be reclassified to reflect a scientific assessment of harm, according to a report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy. The commission, which includes 14 former heads of states from countries such as Colombia, Mexico, Portugal and New Zealand, said the international classification system underpinning drug control is “biased and inconsistent”. […]

The NSW and ACT synods of the Uniting Church and its service arm, Uniting, spearheaded a push last year to have all illegal drugs decriminalised for personal use. The production, trafficking and supply of illicit drugs including ice, a form of crystallised methamphetamine, and other amphetamine-type stimulants would continue to be criminalised. […]

A strong body of evidence suggests that the criminalisation of drugs has undermined the community’s ability to deal with drug use as a health issue – and this is the case for cannabis. Submissions to the ACT Government inquiry pointed out the difficulty of having an open dialogue with young people and family members who use cannabis given the stigma…

Music fans from all walks of life are united in support of pill testing, according to Eventbrite’s 2019 Australian Music Fans Report. The report surveyed over 1,130 gig-goers of all ages, and found that 77% were in support of the introduction of pill testing. Pill testing was trialed for the second consecutive year at Groovin The Moo Canberra recently. […]

The survey findings suggested that people are aware that taking drugs is risky, but without harm reduction advice they are less aware that it’s possible to mitigate those risks. 87% of clients who had used KnowYourStuffNZ’s services before said that their approach to taking drugs had changed as a result of the advice they had received. […]

Drug checking services at music festivals will never be a silver bullet for all drug related harm and deaths associated with music festivals. But the existing evidence suggests that they can make a significant contribution to reducing drug-related harm associated with these events. We should expand and evaluate this intervention. To do this political support is needed.  […]

“We provide our service within the medical precinct of a festival where young people can hand over a sample to have it analysed and assessed,” Mr Vumbaca said. “There are a growing number of different and sophisticated testing technologies that are able to accurately indicate what is contained within a submitted substance, give an idea of its purity and even…

Labor backbencher Bec Cody said the war on drugs had been a “disaster” and the ACT needed to do what it could to solve the problems caused by prohibition. She said Mr Pettersson had “pointed out to all of us that we can and should do more to end the ridiculous policy of prohibition”. […]

“Figures released from the Victorian government show that more than 2,200 clients have used the service, and staff have safely managed more than 650 overdoses that may have otherwise been fatal. “The facility is literally saving lives, and this must be at the forefront of all of our conversations about this particular site and any other facility’s future.” […]

The Ted Noffs Foundation’s CEO Matt Noffs said 80 per cent of program participants have mental health issues, and the public had to recognise drug use was not simply a “bad choice” but intrinsically linked to poverty and traumatic upbringing.He said mental health services had done well to reduce stigma, but in the field of drug and alcohol addiction there…