Getting Honest About MDMA: An Interview With NSW Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann
This music festival season has seen more drug-related deaths and hospitalisations in NSW than ever before. And at the same time, the police presence at these events has also been the heaviest in the state’s history. So, something isn’t adding up....
Saving Aboriginal Mothers From Prison: An Interview With Free the People’s Debbie Kilroy
In Western Australia, the authorities still incarcerate people for unpaid fines. It’s the only jurisdiction in the country that continues to do so. If an individual can’t otherwise pay off their debt, this system sees it reduced by $250 each day...
Youths Demand Pill Testing to Stop Deaths: An Interview With SSDP’s Sofia Devetak
Decades ago, the Just Say No campaign was launched by Nancy Reagan, wife of then US president Ronald Reagan. Comprised of the simple idea that telling children to say no to illicit substances would somehow stop drug use, the campaign...
Keep Poppers Legal: An Interview With the Nitrite Group’s Paul Kidd
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) released an interim decision last year that would see amyl nitrite and other alkyl nitrite inhalants banned. This means these substances popularly referred to as poppers would be moved into schedule 9 of the Poisons Standard along...
Combating the NSW Nanny State: An Interview With Keep Sydney Open’s Tyson Koh
Next month marks five years since the Liberal Nationals government put a gun to the head of Sydney’s nightlife and pulled the trigger. Many Sydneysiders thought the lockout laws would never stick around very long, but today, they remain. The...
Curbing Rising Strip Searches: An Interview With the Safe And Sound Campaign’s Samantha Lee
Over the last half decade, reports have indicated that the use of strip searches by NSW police following a positive indication from a drug detection dog has been become more routine. This is especially disconcerting as sniffer dogs get it wrong two-thirds...
Justice for Offshore Detainees: An Interview With National Justice Project’s George Newhouse
National Justice Project principal solicitor George Newhouse filed two class actions on 7 December with the High Court of Australia, claiming the federal government’s treatment of asylum seekers and refugees in offshore detention amounts to crimes against humanity and torture....
Representing Festival Interests: An Interview With the Australian Festival Association
Safety at music festivals is an issue that’s been of utmost concern recently. Indeed, over the last four months of the current festival season, five young Australians have died at events due to suspected drug overdoses. In response to the...
Stop Adani: An Interview With the Galilee Blockade’s Ben Pennings
Adani announced on 29 November that it will be going ahead with a scaled-down version of the Carmichael coalmine. And construction on the project’s rail line would begin early in the new year. However, at this stage, it seems very unlikely due...
The Dangers of Laws Against Drug Supply Causing Death: An Interview With Urban Survivor Union’s Louise Vincent
On the second last sitting day of the parliamentary year, the Berejiklian government passed legislation that created the new offence of supply of drugs causing death. This latest drug war tactic can see an individual imprisoned for supplying a drug that proves lethal...
