“Strip Searches Were Never Meant to Be Routine”: RLC’s Sam Lee on the Splendour Class Action
The protocols stipulating when police can carry out strip searches are set out in a piece of legislation commonly known as the LEPRA. Section 31 of this Act requires that when outside of a police station “the seriousness and urgency...
Legalising Hemp Leaf Foods: An Interview With Industry Pioneer Andrew Kavasilas
These days, if you walk down the aisles of any Australian supermarket, whether it be a major outlet or a smaller local store, you’ll come across hempseed food products. And they’ll usually be found in the health food section, as...
What is a ‘Conspiracy’ in the Commonwealth Criminal Law?
A Sydney man accused of serious drug offences is on the run from the police after allegedly disabling his ankle monitor while on bail. Northern Beaches restauranter Mostafa Baluch is alleged to have financed a major cocaine importation syndicate. He...
NSW Government Proposes to Divert Certain Drug Offenders Away From the Criminal Justice System
The New South Wales Government is proposing to implement a new program across the state, which would give some drug offenders a second chance. It’s a sharp departure from the hardline stance of successive state governments, which have refused to...
As the ACT Moves to Fixed-Site Pill Testing, NSW Police Minister Doesn’t Get It
NSW police minister David Elliott took the opportunity of Sydney opening up from its extended lockdown to strengthen the understanding that he has no idea about the evidence behind the harm reduction intervention known as pill testing. Elliott told Sky...
Police Profiling Intensifies Under COVID: An Interview With NUAA’s Dr Mary Ellen Harrod
The academic paper Policing Biosecurity sets out that of the people NSW police officers pulled up over a suspected COVID breach during the three months to 15 June last year, 45 percent were subsequently searched. However, in stark contrast, just...
“Jesus Used It Back in the Day”: An Interview With Legalise Cannabis/HEMP’s Michael Balderstone
The HEMP Party has decided to change its name to Legalise Cannabis Australia for the upcoming federal election. Established back in 1993, HEMP or Help End Marijuana Prohibition has been keeping the issue of cannabis legalisation on the political agenda...
The Offence of Possessing a Commercial Quantity of Unlawfully Imported Border Controlled Drug
Police arrested a 29-year old man on Thursday, 2 September 2021 at his home in Mt Colah in Sydney’s north, after raiding several properties including a storage facility in Hornsby. It has been alleged that the raids led to the...
Victoria’s Ongoing Heavy-Handed Cannabis Policing Is Harmful
The Victorian state government has created a “ring of steel” enforced and protected by police. Protection from COVID-19, you’re thinking? Well, yes, but there is another ring of steel operating in this state, which is preventing drug policy reform. Already...
The Need for a Medicinal Cannabis Driving Defence: An Interview With Former Magistrate David Heilpern
The NSW government introduced the state’s much maligned drug driving laws in 2007. The regime criminalises any trace of the psychoactive component of cannabis, THC, in the system whilst driving. The federal government, however, legalised the use of medicinal cannabis...
