Federal penitentiaries in Canada will soon offer clean needles to inmates who are likely to inject drugs while behind bars, answering a decades-long call by harm-reduction advocates who say the overdue initiative prevents the transmission of blood-borne illnesses and to withhold it would be in violation of Charter rights. […]

In an editorial last Thursday entitled Drugs Should Be Legalized, Regulated, and Taxed, Fiona Godlee, editor in chief of the British Medical Journal, notes that under drug prohibition, the global trade “fuels organized crime and human misery,” and asks, “Why should it not instead fund public services?” […]

When law enforcement officers call for drugs to be legalised, we have to listen. So too when doctors speak up. Last month the Royal College of Physicians took the important step of coming out in favour of decriminalisation, joining the BMA, the Faculty of Public Health, and the Royal Society of Public Health in supporting drug policy reform. […]

If pill testing results in just one person thinking twice before making a poor decision that may end their life and devastate many others, surely this is a strategy we can all get behind. We will wait for the results of the trial, but the early indications are that it supported many more people to keep safer than they would…

The Federal Government has used this proposal to dog whistle community prejudices towards addicts, seeking to make political mileage out of it, all the while saying they’re acting in peoples’ best interests — it is nothing short of disgraceful. […]

A NSW coroner has scolded the law’s treatment of illicit drug users, venting her frustration over the lack of supervised injecting rooms in western Sydney. Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame made the frank remarks on Tuesday during an inquest into the 2016 deaths of six opiate users, which also heard expert fears of illicit fentanyl being on the verge of…

A controversial pill-testing pilot at a recent Canberra music festival will be examined to see if it can be used to prevent opiate deaths in NSW, a coronial inquest has heard. Counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer, said the results of pill testing at Groovin the Moo – an initiative condemned by NSW Police Minister Troy Grant – could prove…

A number of young people at a music festival in Victoria have shown support for an Australian-first pill-testing trial, and say they want more drug checks. […]

Harm Reduction Australia and ScriptWise are joining forces to host a national summit in Canberra on May 23 to re-think outdated policies and increase access to opioid treatment. The current system, the two organisations say, must be updated to ensure Australia avoids continuing on a trajectory towards the opioid crisis currently being seen in the US. […]

As you might know, Canberra’s edition of Groovin the Moo recently provided a free drug testing service, allowing punters to decide whether or not they’d like to eat drugs that could kill them. And unsurprisingly, two samples of potentially lethal drugs were identified. But saving lives isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. […]