Silk Road Creator’s Life Sentence Fails to Deter Online Drug Transactions
Ross Ulbricht, founder of the online drug marketplace Silk Road, had his life sentence confirmed by a US Federal appeals court on May 31. Mr Ulbricht, known online as Dread Pirate Roberts, created the site in 2011. In its heyday, Silk Road...
Ongoing Drug Supply: Factors Relevant to Sentencing
Under section 25A of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW), a person can be found guilty of supplying a prohibited drug on an ongoing basis if they supply, on three or more separate occasions during any period of...
Queensland May Bring Back Drug Court
Queensland’s drug court was established in order to divert those who commit drug-related offences away from the criminal justice system and break the cycle of crime, by placing them on tailored rehabilitation programs and monitoring their progress. However, the court...
‘High Alert’ Campaign Warns Drug Users of Police Operations
Under Operation Safenight, Victoria police are carrying out nightclub raids and searches targeting people who use drugs throughout Melbourne. The operation commenced on April 23, and searches have been undertaken in the city’s nightclub precincts on two out of the...
Rehab and Harm Reduction: An Interview with WHOS director Garth Popple
The subject of drug rehabilitation formed part of the national discussion recently, after Australian Story aired the Breaking Good documentary. It told the story of Peter Lyndon-James, a former ice user, who now runs the “nation’s strictest” rehab clinic. Shalom...
The Implicit Racism in the War on Drugs
Drug prohibition has been a global phenomenon for nearly a hundred years now. The 1925 Geneva Convention imposed international restrictions on the production and use of opium, coca and, as a late addition, cannabis. However, the war on drugs was declared...
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...
