Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said a new approach was needed with Kiwis being some of the biggest meth users in the world. When the issue was tackled only through law enforcement and the criminal justice system, courts got clogged up, Bell said. “If you talk to cops they say you can’t arrest your way out of this problem.” […]

According to Canadian brain researcher, Dr. Matthew Hill, “I’d say the whole idea of cannabis being a gateway drug is a debunked thing at this point. …I don’t think there’s any evidence to support that,” said Hill, who is an assistant professor at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary. […]

The country’s first supervised drug injecting centre will be operated by Merchants Quay Project. The new facility will provide access to clean, sterile injecting equipment and have trained staff on hand to provide emergency care in the event of an overdose. Staff will also provide advice on treatment and rehabilitation. Proponents of such centres argue that they also help alleviate…

On February 6, legislators in Caribbean nation’s House of Representatives voted to approve the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill. The bill, which has support from Prime Minister Gaston Browne, seeks to decriminalise the possession of less than 10 grams of cannabis for all adults, and allow Rastafarian people to legally use cannabis during religious rituals and ceremonies. […]

Employers in the state will no longer be able to discriminate against employees for using marijuana or marijuana by-products outside after new laws went into effect, and the state’s Labour Department has removed the drug from its list of substances that employers can test applicants for, according to the employment law firm Littler Mendleson PC. […]

The war on drugs is really a war on us. It is time to decriminalize all drugs and stop arresting people simply for using or possessing a certain substance. We are all using drugs, most non-problematically. How can we allow the police to target, arrest and lock up our brothers and sisters in cages for something we are all doing?…

Victoria’s public rehab services are struggling with the demand, and private centres are fairing little better. Councils like Geelong and Shepparton have recently knocked back plans for private facilities in the face of staunch public opposition. In the midst of increasing addiction rates, many taxpayers refuse to see their money going into rehabilitation services. […]

Last month, six people were sentenced to death for drug trafficking by a Malaysian court. Two are Malaysian and the rest are Indian nationals – another country that maintains the death penalty for drug offenses. While Malaysia has taken steps to make the death penalty for certain drug offenses non-mandatory, slow implementation of the law and the retention of the death penalty…

“In a country with the highest teen pregnancy rates in the region, Durana is a teen mother. She has lost her coparent and breadwinner to a state-sanctioned drug war that has claimed the lives of thousands of mostly young men.   […]

In 2016, the opioid epidemic claimed 1,374 lives in New York City. That’s roughly four drug overdose deaths each day. One death every seven hours. It’s a harrowing statistic that continues to soar, and New York City officials are floating an idea that so far has not been tried in the United States: sanctioned locations where drug users can shoot up…