NSW Refuses to Decriminalise Cannabis, Despite Top Lawyers Telling Inquiry It’s High Time
Established in March this by the Premier and Finance Committee, the NSW parliamentary inquiry into the state’s regulatory framework for cannabis has as a chief concern whether to decriminalise the widely recreationally used, yet still illegal, psychoactive plant. Yet, on...
Lifesaving Naloxone: The Free, Over-the-Counter Potential Antidote to Synthetic Opioid Overdose
Overdose deaths have been on the rise over recent months as a new type of highly potent synthetic opioid has hit the streets that’s even more deadly than fentanyl, which was the last extra strong synthetic opioid that started being...
NSW Drug Summit Agenda: Decriminalisation, Drug Detection Dogs and Deemed Supply
The Minns government has finally announced it will be holding its preelection promised NSW Drug Summit, which will comprise of a four day forum with two regional dates set for October, along with two dates of hearings to be held...
NSW Government Knows We Need Evidence-Based Drug Law Reform. So, Why Block It?
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties posted an image last week of the premier with the word “Failed” stamped boldly across his forehead, with the reason being that Chris Minns had “promised a drug summit” preelection “to introduce meaningful change”...
Ban on Retail Sales of Nicotine-Free Vapes Makes No Sense At All
As of Monday, 1 July 2024, vapes are only available at pharmacies throughout Australia and for the first three months, sales of the products that are designed to be a safer alternative to smoking are by prescription only. The main...
As Victoria Trials Pill Testing, It’s Time to Save NSW Youths Not Punish Them with Death
In late 2015, as the volume on the pill testing campaign was turning up due to a recent spate of festival deaths, there was a boat packed with pollies guarding the waters around prohibitive state drug regimes, with then NSW...
The New South Wales Drug Diversion Scheme is an Abject Failure
The drug diversion scheme that NSW premier Chris Minns quietly implemented in February, has been found not to be adequately working in terms of diverting people from the criminal justice system and towards a more health-based approach. Known as the...
Sure, Minns Promised a Drug Summit, But That Was When Seeking Election
Guess what? NSW premier Chris Minns hasn’t been the progressive politician he’d attempted to portray he would be during the 2023 election campaign. Indeed, it’s hard to believe, after a year of his leadership, that is the same guy, who...
Legalising and Regulating Cocaine Would Be a Sensible Lifesaving Reform
Cocaine Inc, a new podcast series based on a joint investigation by The Times and News Corp, which covers the trade in illegal cocaine across six different countries that, as the narrator explains, is “an industry where the profits are...
The Drug Offenders Program: Shane Prince SC and Jim Finnane on Early Intervention
The hardline approach taken to psychoactive drugs has pushed their use underground, which causes barriers to seeking help for those who develop problematic use, as they’re admitting to a crime, while the funding of an ever-increasing habit can also become...
