We’re Importing Medical Marijuana, While Police Are Raiding Local Producers
The first two commercial batches of legal medicinal cannabis products were imported into Australia earlier this week. The medicines were produced in Canada and are being held by Health House International in WA and the Pharmaceutical Packaging Professionals in Victoria. The imports...
Recreational Cannabis: Regulate and Reap the Benefits
One in five US citizens now lives in a state where the use of recreational marijuana is permitted. On November 8 last year, another four US states voted in favour of marijuana legalisation, bringing the total number of states to eight, as...
Woman Faces Prison for Giving Cannabis Oil to Sick People: An Interview with Jenny Hallam
If you ask the South Australian police what they think of Jenny Hallam, they’ll call her a criminal. Ask many others, and they’ll say she’s their angel. Ms Hallam, a marijuana reform activist, is facing up to 10 years in...
Decriminalisation and a Regulated Drug Supply Market are the Key to Success
The Portugal model of drug decriminalisation is acknowledged globally as a resounding success. In 2001, the Portuguese government decriminalised the personal use and possession of all illegal drugs. Since then, rates of HIV infections and overdoses have dramatically decreased. And despite what...
NSW Police Crackdown is Devastating the Nimbin Community
NSW police carried out a series of six raids in Nimbin and Lismore on June 28 last year. A total of eleven men between the ages of 21 and 35 were arrested and charged with supplying marijuana. These men are known...
Decriminalising Medical Cannabis: An Interview with NSW Labor MLC Adam Searle
NSW Opposition leader Luke Foley introduced a game-changing medicinal cannabis bill before parliament on March 9, which has largely gone unnoticed. The legislation calls for the decriminalisation of possession of the medicine, as well as establishing “a lawful supply chain.” “We know that for...
It’s Time to Decriminalise, Regulate and Tax Drugs
The release of the Australia 21 report on drugs caused quite a stir last week. Entitled Can Australia Respond to Drugs More Effectively and Safely?, the report made a number of key recommendations aiming to decriminalise drugs use in this country. What...
It’s Official – Sydney is Australia’s Cocaine Capital
The most extensive study into illegal drug use in Australia has found that Sydney is the nation’s cocaine capital, and that the use of crystal methamphetamine, or ‘ice’, is on the rise in rural areas. The research, costing more than...
Decriminalise Drugs Now, Demand Top Brass
Former NSW premier Bob Carr and former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett launched the new Australia 21 report in Sydney last Monday. Entitled Can Australia Respond to Drugs More Effectively and Safely?, the report outlines thirteen key recommendations aiming to decriminalise drugs and...
Australia Should Follow Portugal’s Drug Decriminalisation Model
Portugal decriminalised the possession of all illicit drugs for personal use in 2001. If an individual is found with a permitted amount of cannabis, methamphetamine or heroin on them, they are not sent to court where they face the prospect...
