Foreigner Allowed to Stay in Australia Despite Drug Supply Conviction
The Department of Home Affairs outlines on its website that since amendments were made to the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) back in November 2014, the number of noncitizens who’ve had their visas cancelled on character grounds has increased by over 1,400...
Police Can Now Issue On-the-Spot Fines for Drug Possession
Since 25th January 2019, NSW Police Officers have been empowered to issue on-the-spot fines for certain drug possession offences. Those who are issued with a fine will avoid a criminal conviction if they decide to pay, rather than contest it...
Getting Honest About MDMA: An Interview With NSW Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann
This music festival season has seen more drug-related deaths and hospitalisations in NSW than ever before. And at the same time, the police presence at these events has also been the heaviest in the state’s history. So, something isn’t adding up....
Beyond Pill Testing: Calls to Legalise and Regulate MDMA
As far as regularly used licit and illicit drugs go, pure MDMA is one of the least dangerous around. This is an idea that might take some by surprise considering the deaths of five young people – who at least thought they...
Government Continues Festival Crackdown and Ignores Pill Testing
Over the long weekend, 25 people aged between 16 and 25 were hospitalised after taking illicit drugs at music festivals around Sydney. This, of course, follows on the deaths of five young people in drug-related circumstances at festivals over the last five months....
Youths Demand Pill Testing to Stop Deaths: An Interview With SSDP’s Sofia Devetak
Decades ago, the Just Say No campaign was launched by Nancy Reagan, wife of then US president Ronald Reagan. Comprised of the simple idea that telling children to say no to illicit substances would somehow stop drug use, the campaign...
Keep Poppers Legal: An Interview With the Nitrite Group’s Paul Kidd
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) released an interim decision last year that would see amyl nitrite and other alkyl nitrite inhalants banned. This means these substances popularly referred to as poppers would be moved into schedule 9 of the Poisons Standard along...
Pill Testing Saves Lives, and Does Not Lead to Increased Drug Use
In the wake of a spate of recent deaths at Australian music festivals, the mainstream media is starting to report on the potential benefits of pill testing - and politicians from the major parties are starting to listen. The main...
Curbing Rising Strip Searches: An Interview With the Safe And Sound Campaign’s Samantha Lee
Over the last half decade, reports have indicated that the use of strip searches by NSW police following a positive indication from a drug detection dog has been become more routine. This is especially disconcerting as sniffer dogs get it wrong two-thirds...
Police Claim to Have Disrupted Drug Importation Rings
Yesterday, a 70-year old man came before Fairfield Local Court charged with commercial drug supply and participating in a criminal group after the NSW Police Force’s State Crime Command executed search warrants upon four homes across Sydney when they detected...
