Should a Regulated Cannabis Market be Introduced in Australia?
Preliminary results from the New Zealand referendum on cannabis legalisation indicate strong opposition to the reform. The results show just over half (53%) of voters rejected proposed changes which would have allowed the legal possession and sale of cannabis products,...
The Offence of Cultivating a Prohibited Plant in New South Wales
NSW Police have seized more than 13,000 cannabis plants worth an estimated $40 million, in what they describe as one of the largest cannabis busts in Australia’s history. Fourteen men have been charged with a range of drug and criminal...
Drug Supply Prohibition Orders: Targeting Those Who Have ‘Served Their Time’
The Berejiklian government has introduced a bill that establishes a pilot scheme that allows NSW police to place those who have been convicted of drug supply or drug manufacture under enhanced surveillance after they’ve served their sentences. Introduced on 20...
Don’t Bring the Drug Dogs Back: An Interview With Sniff Off’s Xiaoran Shi
On the evening of 10 September, the Sniff Off Facebook page alerted its close to 85,000 followers that police officers with a drug dog had been spotted at Blacktown Station. The post noted that this was the first time a...
With Tripartisan Approval, Drug Decriminalisation Looks Likely for Canberra
ACT MLA Michael Pettersson is yet again championing the harm reduction approach to illicit substances. This time the Labor backbencher has initiated an investigation into the feasibility of decriminalising the use and personal possession of “drugs of dependence” in the...
Drug Importation in Australia
The Australian Federal Police (AFP), Australian Border Force (ABF) and New South Wales Police Force (NSWPF) issued a joint media release this morning to report the seizure of ‘hundreds of kilograms of border controlled drugs’ from a vessel off the Newcastle...
The Offence of Supplying a Prohibited Drug in New South Wales
The New South Wales Police Force continues its target drug offences, raiding the homes of those suspected of being involved in supplying prohibited drugs and arresting several people over the past few days. Strike Force Bozos In March 2020, police...
Berejiklian’s Heavy-Handed Festival Laws Aren’t Reducing Serious Drug Incidents
It’s anyone’s guess as to how the 2020/21 NSW music festival season is going to pan out, as currently, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, there’s a statewide ban on such events. And with cases of the virus on the...
Upholding the Rights of People Who Use Drugs Post-COVID
The onset of COVID-19 has drawn attention to many of the inequities that our social systems operate under. And the authoritarian response of governments to the pandemic has further highlighted some of the flawed assumptions that underpin the war on...
Canadian Activists Hand Out Free Drugs to Highlight Overdose Crisis
Drug User Liberation Front members appeared at an intersection in the Canadian city of Vancouver on 24 June and handed out free clean cocaine and opiates to highlight the issue of rising overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a result...
