Free pill testing kits will be available at music festivals
Free pill-testing kits will flood Sydney’s music festivals this summer, despite Mike Baird refusing to formally implement the harm minimisation measure. Fed up with the government’s “unrealistic” zero-tolerance approach, drug reformists are taking matters into their own hands by vowing...
Harm Minimisation and Beyond: An Interview with Unharm’s Will Tregoning
Australia has a long history of harm minimisation. Since 1985, reducing the risks associated with drug use has formed the basis of the nation’s National Drug Strategy. Indeed, Australia has been a world leader in a field that acknowledges some...
Legalise Cannabis: An Exclusive Interview with 420 organiser Chris Hindi
Last Sunday, the Free Cannabis community 420 picnic was held in Sydney’s Victoria Park. The event saw about 170 marijuana enthusiasts turn up, light up and get high. It’s the fourth picnic Free Cannabis NSW has organised this year, aiming...
Preventing Deaths from Drug Overdoses: Sniffer Dogs Are Not the Answer
By Blake O’Connor and Ugur Nedim The recent 2016 “Listen Out” festival is another example that the government’s approach to drug enforcement is ineffective and even dangerous, putting party-goers in harm’s way. Despite the heavy police presence at the festival,...
Arrests, Illegal Searches and Drug Overdoses at Listen Out Music Festival
By Ugur Nedim Police and sniffer dogs were out in force as more than 25,000 revellers attended Sydney’s Centennial Park for this year’s Listen Out music festival over the weekend. Event organisers and police described the event as a success,...
Sniffer Dog Searches Falling in NSW
Recent figures show the number of drug dog searches being carried out by NSW police is in decline. In 2015, police performed 12,893 searches compared with 14,541 in 2014. This represents an 11 percent decrease in the space of a...
Hanson’s Speech Doesn’t Reflect What Australians Believe, or Does It?
There’s a racist in our midst, and she’s been here for quite some time. Pauline Hanson’s at it again, back in federal parliament and insulting most of the nation with her vitriolic speech. That’s except for the vocal minority who...
People Power: Russian Drug Users Fight Government
Three drug user activists are challenging the Russian government’s zero-tolerance approach to illegal drugs. The trio have filed a case in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), claiming Russia’s blanket ban on substitution treatments is an abuse of their...
NSW Drug Driving Laws: Arbitrary, Unfair and Without Evidentiary Basis
NSW Police are well into their unprecedented ‘crackdown’ on drug driving, with an explosion in the number of roadside tests for the presence of illegal drugs over the past 18-months. Last year saw a 109% increase in drug driving charges...
W-18 and Fentanyl – Separating Fact from Fiction
On Monday, Tasmanian police put out a warning about a new synthetic drug - ten thousand times stronger than heroin – that could be coming the Apple Isle’s way. Known as W-18, reports state the drug has already been detected...
