With Tripartisan Approval, Drug Decriminalisation Looks Likely for Canberra
ACT MLA Michael Pettersson is yet again championing the harm reduction approach to illicit substances. This time the Labor backbencher has initiated an investigation into the feasibility of decriminalising the use and personal possession of “drugs of dependence” in the...
Berejiklian’s Heavy-Handed Festival Laws Aren’t Reducing Serious Drug Incidents
It’s anyone’s guess as to how the 2020/21 NSW music festival season is going to pan out, as currently, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, there’s a statewide ban on such events. And with cases of the virus on the...
Upholding the Rights of People Who Use Drugs Post-COVID
The onset of COVID-19 has drawn attention to many of the inequities that our social systems operate under. And the authoritarian response of governments to the pandemic has further highlighted some of the flawed assumptions that underpin the war on...
Canadian Activists Hand Out Free Drugs to Highlight Overdose Crisis
Drug User Liberation Front members appeared at an intersection in the Canadian city of Vancouver on 24 June and handed out free clean cocaine and opiates to highlight the issue of rising overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a result...
It’s High Time: An Interview With Legalise Cannabis Queensland’s Deb Lynch
The Turnbull government passed legislation in February 2016 that allowed for the establishment of a legal supply chain of cannabis medicines. This showed a willingness amongst the highest levels of authority in this country to publicly acknowledge that cannabis is...
Reignited Calls for a Dubbo Rehabilitation Centre, Reflect a Wider Regional Issue
Dubbo Country Labor Deputy Mayor Stephen Lawrence has reinvigorated calls for the establishment of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre in the central western NSW town he represents, signalling an issue that’s symptomatic of many regional and rural areas in...
Vote 1 HEMP in the Eden-Monaro Byelection: An Interview With Candidate Michael Balderstone
HEMP Party president Michael Balderstone wants real cannabis law reform on the agenda in this nation’s federal chambers of parliament. And that’s why the veteran campaigner is running in the 4 July Eden-Monaro byelection. Right now, Australia is noticeably lagging...
Drug Driving Laws Are “a Great Wrong”: An Interview With Former Magistrate David Heilpern
David Heilpern is something of a legend in the NSW Northern Rivers. The former Lismore magistrate is known throughout the region for the just decisions he handed down in relation to residents who’d been caught out by the unjust laws...
What is the Cannabis Cautioning Scheme in New South Wales?
With Indigenous deaths in custody firmly in the spotlight across Australia, attention is also being drawn to the inherent racism present at every level of the Justice system, and now it has been revealed that New South Wales Police disproportionately...
NSW Drug Driving Laws Are Unfair and Do Not Deter
This state’s unfair drug driving laws were a major reason why former Lismore magistrate David Heilpern retired. Over the last half decade or so, the judicial officer had built up a reputation across the Northern Rivers region for his just...
