Reason Party leader and upper house MP Fiona Patten urged the government to look at the decades of evidence from overseas that showed pill testing reduced deaths and ambulance calls-outs. It’s tragic and it’s immoral for politicians to look away and put their heads in the sand when young people are dying and they could stop it,” she said. […]

New South Wales Opposition Leader Michael Daley has said that the state Labor party would consider the possibility of testing recreational drugs at music festivals, after the death of 22-year-old Josh Tam following Lost Paradise this week. […]

Pill testing advocates reissued their push for a rethink following the Lost Paradise death, including the Take Control organisation, which was launched by drug and alcohol treatment provider the Ted Noffs Foundation. Spokesman Matt Noffs said the “just say no” strategy had failed and urged the Premier to listen to evidence about pill testing.  […]

The push for pill testing is being felt throughout the music industry after Canberra’s Groovin The Moo festival’s first on-site pill testing scheme was deemed a success by organisers. Despite this and despite being asked in an open letter signed by industry giants such as MusicNSW, Chugg Entertainment, Secret Sounds and more to consider pill testing it was not considered…

Following the ACT trial, Edith Cowan University researcher Stephen Bright said the state government needed to seriously consider a pill test trial in WA. “I think there are so many new substances entering the market … from the conversations I’ve had with people, with consumers here in Perth so far it appears that the market sort of varies and sometimes…

Of course, there is still much work to do. But in this reactionary time, advocates for sustainable and humane drug policies­, centered on harm reduction, human rights, and sustainable development, have joined together to provide a common defense and to continue building on the progress made to date. The Global Drug Policy Program has been honored to be a part…

The evidence for harm reduction services is overwhelming. They keep people alive, are cost-effective, and foster healthier, safer communities. It is shameful that these facts are ignored by many. Until prejudice and fear stop ruling when it comes to drug policy, our health will continue to be undermined. […]

Greens Senator for Queensland, Larissa Waters said it’s “high time” for Australia to legalise the drug and we’ll risk being “getting left behind” in the world if we don’t act soon. […]

A study conducted earlier this year by the NZ Drug Foundation found that two-thirds of New Zealanders support the legalization of cannabis for recreational use. “These results show that New Zealanders are ready for a future under which cannabis is regulated,” said Ross Bell, executive director at the foundation. “People realise that the way we’re currently dealing with cannabis isn’t…

The poll follows the death of a young man at a Sydney music festival this month. A further two lives were lost at another music festival in Sydney in September. ‘Pill testing saves lives – that’s the bottom line,’ Dr Hester Wilson, GP and Chair of the RACGP Specific Interests Addiction Medicine network, told newsGP. […]