Liberal MP Craig Kelly has said that Australia’s drug policies need to be reconsidered after it was revealed that in 2016 the nation recorded the highest number of drug-induced deaths in decades. Speaking to Perth’s 6PR radio station, the backbench MP from the Sydney seat of Hughes said that there were “elements of the Portuguese model that we should look at…

In a groundbreaking Australian-first, the ACT Government will allow free pill testing to take place at the Spilt Milk music festival in Canberra on November 25. […]

“All of my experience tells me that this won’t work,” Palmer told the ABC on Wednesday. “Really what it will do is create more damage, and most damage and most harm to those people who are most vulnerable and most in need of support and protection, which was my experience when we first responded to the tough on drugs policies under…

An Australian politician has called for the decriminalisation of drugs in the Northern Territory, which has already decriminalised cannabis, after witnessing the successes of Portugal’s drug policy. Jeff Collins, the Assistant Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT), has called for an end to the criminalisation of people who possess drugs for personal use. […]

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says Australia is deeply concerned about a fresh wave of killings in the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, including 17-year-old high school student Kian Loyd delos Santos. […]

Pharmacists could dispense heroin to illicit drug users under very limited circumstances as part of a suite of harm minimisation efforts, says Public Health Association chief executive Michael Moore. Mr Moore told the AJP that while supply and demand reduction are important, the experience internationally from countries such as Portugal demonstrate a greater need for Australia to focus on harm reduction.…

This week, pharmacies have begun distribution of the drug, which is available to Uruguayan citizens and permanent residents only, who need to sign up to a database before they can buy it. […]

The American Medical Association (AMA) says these rooms, staffed by medical personnel who monitor drug users, lead to fewer overdose deaths, less transmission of infectious disease and promote treatment. AMA leaders, by a voice vote, approved a resolution calling for development of pilot SIFs during the organization’s annual meeting. […]

We live in a world of rampant harms and not enough resources in health care to contain them. Our paradigm should evolve from “do no harm” to “reduce harm.” Chained by practicality, physicians don’t have the luxury of shooting for the impossibility of no harm. It’s time for us to embrace, on all topics – sex, drugs, smoking, etc. […]

The Australian National Council on Drugs warned four years ago that there was “no evidence” that drug testing welfare recipients would have any positive effects, and found drug use was not, by itself, a significant barrier to employment. The Coalition says the measure, announced in the budget, is designed to remove a barrier to welfare recipients gaining employment, but drug…