Removing Criminal Sanctions for Drug Use: An Interview With Australia21’s Dr Alex Wodak
“We call on Australia’s federal, state and territory governments to treat drug use primarily as a health and social issue and to remove criminal sanctions for personal use and possession,” begins think tank Australia21’s recently released fourth report on illicit...
Victorian Liberals Vow to Shut Down Life-Saving Injecting Facility
In what can only be described as a terribly misguided move, Victorian Opposition leader Matthew Guy has announced that if he wins the state election on Saturday, he’ll be shutting down the newly-opened North Richmond Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR) in...
Prohibition Causes the Harm: An Interview With Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform
There’s a rising awareness that the century-old system of drug prohibition is failing. It’s evident in the global moves to legalise cannabis, the internationally-lauded Portuguese drug decriminalisation model and the widespread calls to start treating drug use as a health issue, not...
Pill Testing, Not Penalties: An Interview With Take Control’s Kieran Palmer
Two young people died after taking drugs at the Defqon.1 festival in September. At the time, there was saturation policing at the music festival. There were 194 police officers deployed at the event, some of whom were accompanied by drug detection dogs....
Judge Recognises that Medicinal Cannabis Producers are Not Criminals
The benefits of cannabis medicine are becoming widely accepted within the Australian community. However, laws around the non-profit cultivation of the plant to help the sick continue to carry the same level of criminality as the laws for those who...
Cannabis Legalisation Is Inevitable: An Interview With ADLaRI’s Ben Mostyn
Global drug prohibition had its beginnings over a century ago. And the intensification of its law enforcement aspect – known as the war on drugs – was launched by Nixon in 1971. In NSW, this prohibitive system is reflected in the...
Calls to Stop Baseless Ban on Amyl Nitrite
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has just released an interim decision that would see amyl nitrite and other nitrite inhalants banned across Australia. The proposal would move these drugs into schedule 9 of the Poisons Standard along with substances such...
Dr Katelaris Spent Four Months in Prison for Possessing Massage Oil
Renowned medicinal cannabis practitioner Dr Andrew Katelaris was arrested in April after being pulled over by police on the Central Coast. The doctor was charged with supply of a prohibited drug, as an officer found two small bottles of what...
Richmond’s Safe Injecting Room Saves Lives: An Interview With NRCH’s Demos Krouskos
The North Richmond Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR) opened its doors on 30 June, and it’s already been hailed a success. Over its short time in operation, staff at the facility have treated over 140 people for potentially fatal overdoses. The...
Statistics on NSW Drugs Busts Exaggerated
The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) has announced it has mistakenly double-counted a large number of drug busts over the past seven years - an admission which many believe further bolsters the argument that the war on drugs...
