Drug Decriminalisation for the ACT: An Interview With Labor MLA Michael Pettersson
Led by the Uniting Church Synod of NSW/ACT, Fair Treatment has been calling on the jurisdictions of NSW and the ACT to decriminalise drug use and personal possession since late 2018. This health-based campaign has the backing of over 60...
A Violation of Civil Liberties: NSWCCL’s Elizabeth Htwe on Criminalising Drug Use
Since the drug-related deaths of two young Australians at the Sydney Defqon.1 festival in September 2018, the NSW Liberal Nationals government has understood that this state’s current approach to illicit substances isn’t working. Indeed, by the end of that music...
No More Drug War Demands Sydney, as Berejiklian Drags Her Feet on Solutions
The 17th of June next year marks the 50th anniversary of the day on which US president Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs. Marking an intensification of then half-a-century-old global drug prohibition, this gung-ho approach to a health issue...
Berejiklian’s Drug Depenalisation: A “Modest” Step Towards “Inevitable” Decriminalisation
At a 30 November meeting, NSW government cabinet ministers discussed a three-tiered system of depenalisation for the offence of personal drug possession. First spruiked by attorney general Mark Speakman, the step-in-the-right-direction policy gained broad, but not unanimous, support. A conservative...
World Moves Closer to Cannabis Decriminalisation
Despite the lamentable outcome of the NZ cannabis legalisation referendum that saw the usually progressive nation vote in a slight majority against making the plant legal for recreational use, the ongoing international trend towards cannabis use becoming a legal practice...
Managing Problematic Behaviours: An Interview With Smart Recovery’s Josette Freeman
As it’s often said, the first step to recovery is admitting to yourself that you have a problem, while the second step is reaching out. And for many people, what springs to mind initially is 12 step recovery programs, such...
Reining in Police Powers: Shoebridge on His Drug Dog and Strip Search Bill
Over the last two years, unlucky commuters at Sydney’s Central Station have been confronted with NSW police officers accompanied by drug dogs. Deployed at peak hour, these officers have been equipped with screens, allowing them to strip search citizens if...
Legalising Cannabis: New Zealand’s Referendum Setback Isn’t the End
Cannabis advocates across the globe were left gobsmacked last Friday, when the preliminary results of New Zealand’s national cannabis referendum turned up a vote against legalising the comparatively innocuous drug, with 53 percent of those polled and counted voting “no”....
Legalising Cannabis Would Assist Australia Out of Its Deep Recession
Australia is going through its greatest economic recession since the Great Depression. The Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures in early September that showed over the 12 months to June the economy had contracted by 6.3 percent. The downturn was...
Should a Regulated Cannabis Market be Introduced in Australia?
Preliminary results from the New Zealand referendum on cannabis legalisation indicate strong opposition to the reform. The results show just over half (53%) of voters rejected proposed changes which would have allowed the legal possession and sale of cannabis products,...
