Category: Drug Offences

Say no

Preaching “Just Say No” Endangers Lives: Informed Decision-Making Protects Them

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We live in a state where the head of government continues to spout rhetoric about drug use in line with former US first lady Nancy Reagan. The “just say no” to drugs approach remains as simple and ineffective as it was back in the 1980s, when the late Ms Reagan was pushing it. “Just say …
Peter Dutton

Dutton Argues Against Calls for Drug Decriminalisation

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NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has granted the ice inquiry commissioner Professor Dan Howard SC the extension he requested for the tabling of his report, so as to allow more time to consider the decriminalisation of the personal possession and use of ice and other drugs. In his request dated 21 May this year, the professor …
Festival patrons

Record Drug Busts at Music Festival – Is This How We Measure Success?

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If ever there was a point in recent Australian history at which we could say the vast majority of people have had every opportunity to become well informed about the potential health dangers and personal consequences of taking illegal drugs, it would arguably be now. Over the past few years, there has been a proliferation …

Van Carrying $200 Million in Illegal Drugs Crashes Into Parked Police Cars

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It has been reported that just before 10.30am on Monday, 22nd July 2019, a van carrying 273 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine – or ‘ice’ – crashed into police cars parked outside Eastwood Police Station in Sydney’s north-west. Officers inside the station are reported to have heard a loud bang before walking out to see significant …
LEAP’s Greg Denham

Legalise Drugs to Reduce Violent Crime: An Interview With LEAP’s Greg Denham

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One of the unintended consequences of the war on drugs listed in the 2011 Global Commission on Drug Policy report is “the growth of a ‘huge criminal black market’, financed by the risk-escalated profits of supplying international demand for illicit drugs”. The criminal organisations that have evolved out of the past century of drug prohibition …
Strip searches by police

NSW Police Are Using Strip Searches to Intimidate

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The NSW coronial inquiry into six drug-related deaths at music festivals heard testimony last week regarding a police officer who threatened to make a strip search “nice and slow”, unless the woman being ordered to take her clothes off, confessed to where her drugs were hidden. The young woman recalled fighting back the tears as …
Chris Daw QC

“Legalise and License the Supply of Drugs”: An Interview With Chris Daw QC

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Criminal defence barrister Chris Daw QC is an outspoken advocate of drug legalisation. The 1912 International Opium Convention was the first transnational drug control treaty. Born out of concerns over opium use in China, the document was signed in the Hague, and placed restrictions around the manufacture and distribution of substances derived from the opium …
Goulburn prison

Sydney Criminal Lawyer Charged With Assisting Extreme-Risk Inmate Run Drugs

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Sydney solicitor Martin Churchill is being held on remand for his alleged involvement in a drug supply syndicate that his client former Brothers 4 Life leader Bassam Hamzy was running out of his cell at Goulburn Supermax prison. Police raided 62-year-old Churchill’s Glebe home on 3 July. It’s alleged the lawyer was using his confidential …
Nimbin

Police Power More Present than Ever at Nimbin Mardi Grass Festival

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The New Wales Police Force has been at the frontline of the state Government’s crackdown on music festivals this year, with substantial funds being allocated to ensure the events are heavily policed. The Nimbin Mardi Grass was no exception. The small town on the far northern coast of the state hosts the festival every year. …
cannabis legalise

Cannabis Legalisation Is Creeping Closer for Canberra

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The ACT Legislative Assembly health committee last week tabled its report on the legislation that would see the personal possession and use of cannabis legalised in the capital territory. And with a great sigh of relief, the review recommended the bill be supported subject to some amendments. The Personal Cannabis Use Bill was introduced into …