The Cannabis Climate in Australia: An Interview With SA Cannabis Council’s Matthew Rowland
Attitudes to the cannabis plant are rapidly changing around the globe. Recreational cannabis is now legal in nine US states, while Canada is set to legalise it nationwide. And medicinal cannabis is now readily available in 31 jurisdictions throughout the US. The...
Despite Fatalities, NSW Police Increase the Use of Lethal Pursuits
A NSW police highway patrol car slammed into the vehicle of Gai Vieira at an intersection in Cronulla on 5 September. At the time of the collision, the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command officer was in pursuit of another driver who...
Julian Burnside Backs Greens’ Benedict Coyne in Bid to Oust Dutton
Renowned barrister Julian Burnside QC posted a tweet on 23 September pointing out that the “cruel detention” on Manus Island and Nauru has cost Australian taxpayers over $9.6 billion, and the cost of detaining each of the 1,650 remaining asylum seekers...
NSW Police Force Doubles Strip Searches
The NSW Police Force has nearly doubled the number of strip searches it carries out after positive indications from drug detection dogs. In 2016, police officers carried out around 590 strip searches after an initial search turned up nothing, while in...
How Do Red Light Cameras Work?
A new red light speed camera began operating at the intersection of East Street and Moss Street in Nowra on 17 September. The intersection now joins one of 170-odd others across NSW that are fitted out with these devices. Red...
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...
