A new, 50-state study finds that putting more people in jail for drug offenses doesn’t reduce drug use or overdose deaths. Jake Horowitz, director of research and policy at Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety Performance Project, said they compared states’ drug imprisonment rates to rates of drug use, overdose death and drug arrests, and found no correlation at all. […]

A pre-eminent group of health and social service providers are calling for all Australian governments to decriminalise drug use and to treat it primarily as a health and social issue. The group, comprising doctors, academics, sociologists, criminologists and social service providers want to see drug laws reformed to remove penalties and jail time for people caught with drugs for personal…

After a disappointing false start last year, the time has come for the ACT to break new ground by holding Australia’s first pill testing trial. It is an opportunity for the territory to earn its reputation as a forward-thinking jurisdiction while displaying leadership on a nationally-relevant issue. […]

At a conference on drugs at NZ Parliament today, Ms Clark, who is a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, said the global war on drugs had failed, with devastating consequences for individuals. Ms Clark said the proposed synthetic cannabis law change was more of the same. “That is heading in the war on drugs direction which isn’t…

The University of Canberra has paved the way for a pill-testing trial to take place at next month’s Groovin the Moo festival. A spokeswoman for the university confirmed it was supportive of the trial. “The University of Canberra is open to supporting a pill-testing trial at a festival held on university grounds, providing the main stakeholders and relevant authorities are…

Decriminalisation and proper regulation of sale would mean cannabis could be enjoyed responsibly without users being exposed to criminal sanction, which would also keep it away from children and make health care readily available to those who are affected by addiction or other related health issues. […]

Legalization advocates have long speculated that the crackdown on pot is merely an attempt to squelch any competition, and that “Big Pharma” is working behind the scenes to maintain cannabis prohibition. Meanwhile, the classification of substances as conducted by the DEA has been based on a minimal understanding of chemistry or proper facts. […]

Testing was the best way to helps save lives, the Drug Foundation’s Samuel Andrews said. “We need the government to step up to enable this to happen and that’s where the ball lies for going forward.” He said the testing usually took between 10 to 15 minutes and during that time those testing their drugs were given harm reduction advice.…

President Donald Trump is proposing to fight the opioid epidemic using the death penalty, a vicious and counterproductive policy that would do little to make the country safer and echoes the policies of authoritarians like Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. […]

There are renewed calls for a needle and syringe program (NSP) at the Alexander Maconochie Centre after a review of the prison’s opioid replacement therapy program recommended the move. […]