NSW Premier Won’t Introduce Pill Testing, Despite Continuing Deaths and Calls From His Own Party
“Politics often presents the choice between the unpalatable and the disastrous,” said former NSW Labor premier Bob Carr, during a speech he gave to a 2022 Sydney drug law reform conference last year. Indeed, Carr’s alternates sum up exactly the...
Strip Searches: Minns Probes Whether Sexual Assault by the State Is Right for Kids
Redfern Legal Centre released figures on 17 October, outlining how many children - 10- to 17-year-olds - NSW police officers have strip searched over the 24 months to June this year, which revealed that 107 kids had been made to...
What is the Knowledge Requirement for Drug Importation in Australia?
The Australian Federal Police arrested a man at Melbourne International Airport last week, over allegations he attempted to import 6 kilograms of heroin concealed in his luggage. The 67-year old Canberra resident was returning from a trip to Manila, Thailand...
Minns Continues to Follow Coalition Playbook on Drug Law Reform: This Time Positively
The last few weeks had seen newly-minted NSW premier Chris Minns reverting back to the 2018-19 Liberal Nationals rhetoric on drug reform, which was the summer that saw five people die in drug-related circumstances at festivals, and spurred an inquiry into...
Predicted Drug Deaths Begin, as Minns Continues Coalition’s Harm Maximisation Policy
Last Friday, something ominous was in the air in NSW. The October long weekend was kicking in, at the beginning of a predicted long, hot climate-driven summer, and with pandemic restrictions far in the past, it was looking likely the...
The NSW Drug Summit: Where Other Labor Leaders Triumphed, Minns Fears to Tread
A key objective of the 2023 NSW Labor policy platform stated that “a top priority” for the party on election would be to hold a state drug summit, so the experts can “advise on a wide variety of policy challenges”. This would...
The Law, Defences and Penalties for Drug Premises Offences in New South Wales
Along with New South Wales drug offences against the unlawful use, possession and supply of prohibited drugs and plants (including heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and cannabis), there are also unique offences which apply to illicit drug premises. Here’s what landlords and...
Outrage Grows Over NSW Government’s Backflip on Drug Law Reform
NSW premier Chris Minns last week shattered the drug law reform agenda he’d been spruiking pre-election. The Labor leader has pushed his drug summit back to the end of the term and said he has “no mandate” for decriminalising drugs...
Your Guide To New South Wales LSD (‘Acid’) Laws
Lysergic acid diethylamide, which is also known as LSD or ‘acid’, was the ultimate psychedelic of 1960s counterculture, epitomising the credo of “turn on, tune in, drop out”. However, supplying or even possessing the drug in New South Wales could...
Your Guide To New South Wales MDMA (‘Ecstacy’) Laws
The substance known scientifically as 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine is commonly known as MDMA or ‘ecstasy’. The drug has been around for decades, and remains a popular party drug, particularly amongst young adults. According to the latest national statistics 12.5% of Australians have...
