Legalise It: An interview with Australian Hemp Party President Michael Balderstone
It’s been a big year for marijuana in Australia. In February, federal parliament passed the Narcotic Drugs Amendment Bill 2016 allowing for the legal cultivation, manufacture and distribution of medicinal cannabis. Under the new system - which came into effect on October...
Police Raid Newcastle Medical Marijuana Dispensary
As the use of medical marijuana is fast becoming accepted across Australia, NSW police raided a medicinal cannabis growing dispensary in Newcastle. Last Thursday, 215 plants were seized from a hydroponic operation run by a local group called the Church...
Parents or Foster Care? What to do with at-risk children
By Blake O’Connor and Ugur Nedim A spate of recent cases suggest that children placed in foster care are being exposed to cruel treatment, illegal drugs and even sexual abuse. The foster care system is accused of failing to look...
Legalise Cannabis: An Exclusive Interview with 420 organiser Chris Hindi
Last Sunday, the Free Cannabis community 420 picnic was held in Sydney’s Victoria Park. The event saw about 170 marijuana enthusiasts turn up, light up and get high. It’s the fourth picnic Free Cannabis NSW has organised this year, aiming...
NSW Drug Driving Laws: Arbitrary, Unfair and Without Evidentiary Basis
NSW Police are well into their unprecedented ‘crackdown’ on drug driving, with an explosion in the number of roadside tests for the presence of illegal drugs over the past 18-months. Last year saw a 109% increase in drug driving charges...
Stop Arresting People for Drugs! Nimbin Locals Protest
On August 31 this year, another of Nimbin’s so-called “Lane Boys” was arrested at Nimbin police station under Strike Force Cuppa, a cross-border police investigation into the large scale supply of cannabis in the NSW Northern Rivers town. The 26-year-old...
Drug Use Soars Despite Spike in Arrests
Australian police conducted a record number of drug seizures in 2014-15, according to the recent Illicit Drug Data report from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. The 105,862 seizures represented an increase of 13.7% compared to drug busts during the previous...
Sick Kids to Get Access to Medical Marijuana
NSW is moving forward with medical marijuana reform, commencing a trial on the cannabis-based ‘Epidolex’ drug through the Sydney Children’s Hospital. The drug will be administered to 40 kids who suffer from severe, treatment-resistant epilepsy, under the state’s exiting ‘compassionate...
Sydney Grandmother Faces Execution
Mrs Nguyen Thi Huong looked anguished as the court in Ho Chi Minh City read its verdict recently. The 73-year-old Vietnamese-Australian woman has been sentenced to death for heroin trafficking. It sounds implausible … incongruous, but Vietnamese community leaders in...
Crime and Corruption in the Prison System
A guard in Western Australia’s Casuarina Prison faces a string of criminal charges for allegedly smuggling drugs and other contraband into the prison. 32-year-old Scott Craig Berridge is alleged to have smuggled drugs, mobile phones and alcohol to inmates at...
