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...
Legalising Personal Cannabis Use: An Interview With ACT Labor MP Michael Pettersson
ACT Labor MLA Michael Pettersson introduced a draft of a private member’s bill into the territory’s Legislative Assembly on 19 September that would effectively legalise the personal use and possession of cannabis. The Drugs of Dependence (Personal Cannabis Use) Amendment Bill...
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...
China to Rate Citizens and Regulate All Aspects of Their Lives
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is aiming to roll out its social credit system nationally by 2020. This is a mass surveillance system that relies on big data analysis the scope of which is so vast and invasive that it...
Australia’s First Free Trans Legal Service: An Interview with ICLC’s Hilary Kincaid
Sydney’s Inner City Legal Centre (ICLC) launched Australia’s first pro bono transgender and gender diverse legal service on 10 September. The pilot Trans and Gender Diverse Legal Service will be operating once a fortnight in Kings Cross. The ICLC has partnered...
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...
Morrison Confirms Innocent Children Will Remain in Detention
Back in the early 1940s, the Nazis carried out medical experiments on large numbers of prisoners being held in concentration camps. Often resulting in trauma or death, the experiments were conducted without the consent of detainees, which included children. On...
The Frontier Violence Perpetrated by the NSW Mounted Police
Most Sydneysiders would have at one time or another seen members of the NSW Mounted Police out on patrol. Often these officers – who for the most part work in pairs – can be seen riding their horses down Surry Hills...
Indigenous Deaths in Custody Continue Unabated
Two Aboriginal teens drowned in the Swan River on 10 September while being pursued by WA police. The youths - 17-year-old Jack Simpson and 16-year-old Chris Drage - made it to the middle of the river that flows through Perth, but...
Sleeping Rough in Sydney: An Interview With Martin Place Mayor Lanz Priestley
The release of the 2016 Census homelessness statistics in March confirmed what most already knew: the amount of people with no permanent fixed address in this country is on the rise. The ABS figures revealed that 50 out of every 10,000...
