What is a Marketable and Commercial Quantity of Drugs for Commonwealth Offences?
The Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) contains a range of offences relating to border controlled drugs, including drug importation / exportation, possessing unlawfully imported drugs and drug trafficking. The maximum penalties that apply to these offences will depend on the...
People in High Places are Calling for Drug Decriminalisation
The global system of drug prohibition began in the early 20th century. Since then, a series of international drug control conventions have been established, ostensibly on the basis of trying to reduce the harms that certain drugs cause in the...
Police Officer Reinstated After Failing Drug Test
In a decision that’s bound to have repercussions on workplace drug testing practices around the country, the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (NSWIRC) has ruled that its initial decision to reinstate a NSW police officer dismissed over a positive drug test...
NSW Greens Move to Legislate for Life-Saving Pill Testing Services
During the last music festival season, five young Australians died in drug-related circumstances at NSW events. And while the death toll was high, the lost lives were no anomaly, and the potential for more casualties is ever present. Decades of...
A Crime of Compassion: An Interview With Green Light’s Nicholas Morley
Against the backdrop of the ACT having just passed laws to legalise cannabis use, and the pending three year anniversary of the government’s highly derided cannabis medicine licensing scheme, comes a documentary that deals with the reality of medicinal cannabis...
Wodak & Shoebridge on Scipione’s Talk of Drug Law Reform
These days, it’s well understood that the war on drugs has been a monumental failure. And there’s perhaps no one better placed to understand this, than those at the frontline of enforcing the prohibitionist laws that wreak havoc in the...
The Penalties for Possessing Cocaine in NSW
“It’s just a bit of fun, I’m not hurting anyone. Everyone does it. It’s better than getting out of control on alcohol.” Indeed, the use of cocaine - a drug once used in soft drinks like Coca-Cola – is prevalent...
Canberra Has Legalised the Possession of Cannabis
As of 31 January next year, it will be legal to smoke cannabis for recreational purposes in the ACT. The territory Legislative Assembly passed laws on 25 September that make using cannabis, possessing up to 50 grams of it and...
Roadside Drug Testing Devices Are Unreliable, Study Reveals
Over the last five years, as the NSW Liberal Nationals government has been ramping up roadside drug testing - doubling the number of tests to 200,000 by next year - so too has the chorus of criticism about the testing...
Canberra Has Turned Its Back on Medicinal Cannabis Patients
In May 2014, Barnaby Joyce spoke out in support of legalising cannabis medicine: a campaign fronted by a young patient named Dan Haslam. And two years later, the Nationals MP helped open the nation’s first medicinal cannabis farm in memory...
