The Rights of People Who Use Drugs: An Interview With INPUD’s Judy Chang
The war on drugs has failed. This is a reality that’s increasingly being acknowledged around the globe, as communities start to realise that the outcomes produced by this intensification of drug law enforcement have been overwhelmingly destructive. The close to...
Australia’s First Sanctioned Pill Testing Trial Is Just the Beginning
First published on 3 May 2018 The resounding success of Australia’s first government-sanctioned pill testing trial at the Groovin the Moo festival in Canberra last Sunday drew a line in the sand of this nation’s harm reduction landscape. Before it...
Just Legalise It: An Interview with Australian Greens Leader Richard Di Natale
A large number of Australians breathed a collective sigh of relief on April 16, as Greens leader Richard Di Natale announced that his party is proposing that recreational cannabis use be legalised nationally. Drug law reformists and harm reduction experts have...
Government Promises to Finally Make Medicinal Cannabis Accessible
At a Council of Australian Governments health council meeting last Friday, all state and territory health ministers signed onto a national scheme to streamline patient access to medicinal cannabis products. Federal health minister Greg Hunt said prescribing cannabis medicine will be left...
Greens Push to Legalise Cannabis
The Greens have highlight the fact that drug prohibition has proven to be a “dismal failure” and are pushing to legalise marijuana across Australia. It is the first party with seats in parliament to call for the legalisation of recreational...
Successful Drug Regulation: An Interview with Dr Julian Buchanan
The call for drug law reform is getting stronger, both globally and domestically. There is a growing acknowledgement amongst communities and former holders of positions of authority that the century-old drug prohibition model has failed. The 2011 Global Commission on Drug...
Government Bans Alleged Drug Suppliers from Inner City Public Housing
The Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) issued a letter to inner city public housing applicants on February 28, explaining that they’ll be banned from certain housing estates if they were convicted of, or even charged with, drug supply or...
Stop Sniffer Dog Operations: An Interview With the Sniff Off Campaign’s Xiaoran Shi
The campaign against the warrantless use of sniffer dogs in public places by NSW police is moving North. The Sniff Off campaign, which is a collaboration between Greens MLC David Shoebridge and the NSW Young Greens, launched in Newcastle on...
Getting Drug Charges Dismissed Due to an Illegal Search
Under sections 21 and 36 of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2001, police officers in NSW are prohibited from searching individuals, their personal items or their vehicles without a warrant unless they have a suspicion “on reasonable grounds”...
NSW Man Reports Theft of Cannabis to Police
Police in the Northern Rivers on the Far North Coast of NSW are considering whether to press charges against a man who reported his cannabis stash being stolen. Nimbin Police Station took the call from a local man who reported...
