Former Magistrate Heilpern Tells It Straight on Parochial NSW Cannabis Prohibition
When former NSW Lismore Magistrate David Heilpern gave up the gavel a few years back, the NSW Northern Rivers community were saddened to see him go, as instead of applying major party ethics at the bench, he was a judicial...
NSW Government Re-Commits to Failed Zero Tolerance Approach Ahead of Drug Summit
NSW is so ready for drug law reform that it hurts to watch a party like NSW Labor come to power, with many members, just like all the NSW Greens, having been actively campaigning on the need for reform for...
NSW Refuses to Decriminalise Cannabis, Despite Top Lawyers Telling Inquiry It’s High Time
Established in March this by the Premier and Finance Committee, the NSW parliamentary inquiry into the state’s regulatory framework for cannabis has as a chief concern whether to decriminalise the widely recreationally used, yet still illegal, psychoactive plant. Yet, on...
NSW Drug Summit Agenda: Decriminalisation, Drug Detection Dogs and Deemed Supply
The Minns government has finally announced it will be holding its preelection promised NSW Drug Summit, which will comprise of a four day forum with two regional dates set for October, along with two dates of hearings to be held...
As Victoria Trials Pill Testing, It’s Time to Save NSW Youths Not Punish Them with Death
In late 2015, as the volume on the pill testing campaign was turning up due to a recent spate of festival deaths, there was a boat packed with pollies guarding the waters around prohibitive state drug regimes, with then NSW...
The New South Wales Drug Diversion Scheme is an Abject Failure
The drug diversion scheme that NSW premier Chris Minns quietly implemented in February, has been found not to be adequately working in terms of diverting people from the criminal justice system and towards a more health-based approach. Known as the...
Sure, Minns Promised a Drug Summit, But That Was When Seeking Election
Guess what? NSW premier Chris Minns hasn’t been the progressive politician he’d attempted to portray he would be during the 2023 election campaign. Indeed, it’s hard to believe, after a year of his leadership, that is the same guy, who...
Legalising and Regulating Cocaine Would Be a Sensible Lifesaving Reform
Cocaine Inc, a new podcast series based on a joint investigation by The Times and News Corp, which covers the trade in illegal cocaine across six different countries that, as the narrator explains, is “an industry where the profits are...
The Drug Offenders Program: Shane Prince SC and Jim Finnane on Early Intervention
The hardline approach taken to psychoactive drugs has pushed their use underground, which causes barriers to seeking help for those who develop problematic use, as they’re admitting to a crime, while the funding of an ever-increasing habit can also become...
The Slow Drip Death of the NSW Festival Industry: A Targeted State Approach
The Australian festival industry is still struggling post-pandemic shutdown. Main stayer Groovin the Moo had to cancel its annual regional tour last February, while Victoria’s three-decade-old Falls Festival had to cancel its last New Year’s Eve event, with dozens more...
