Australia’s First Cannabis Medicine: An Interview With Little Green Pharma’s Fleta Solomon
Locally-grown and produced medicinal cannabis products are finally available on the Australian market. Western Australian company Little Green Pharma is the first amongst a number of producers to deliver the long-awaited local product since cannabis medicines were legalised. However, this...
Justice Reinvestment Helps Reduce Crime in Bourke
Focusing on community-based crime prevention initiatives through the ‘justice reinvestment’ program has seen crime rates plummet over the past five years in the far western New South Wales town of Bourke. The success further bolsters the argument that investing in...
Free Public Transport for the Homeless in Victoria
Victoria has commenced an initiative which gives free public transport to the homeless and other financially disadvantaged people in the state. The year-long trial is offering weekly and monthly passes to the indigent, with a view to making it easier...
Premier’s Changes to Online Bullying Laws: All Talk, No Action
The New South Wales State government looks set to amend the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (‘the Act’) to broaden the definitions of “stalking” and “intimidation” so they capture more people who abuse others via technology. The current...
Cannabis Legalisation Is Inevitable: An Interview With ADLaRI’s Ben Mostyn
Global drug prohibition had its beginnings over a century ago. And the intensification of its law enforcement aspect – known as the war on drugs – was launched by Nixon in 1971. In NSW, this prohibitive system is reflected in the...
New Senior Counsel Appointed in New South Wales
Nineteen barristers, comprising 15 men and four women, have been elevated to the prestigious rank of Senior Counsel (SC), or ‘silk’, this year. The NSW Bar Association has released its annual list of senior counsel appointments. Prestigious title The title...
The Cannabis Climate in Australia: An Interview With SA Cannabis Council’s Matthew Rowland
Attitudes to the cannabis plant are rapidly changing around the globe. Recreational cannabis is now legal in nine US states, while Canada is set to legalise it nationwide. And medicinal cannabis is now readily available in 31 jurisdictions throughout the US. The...
Despite Fatalities, NSW Police Increase the Use of Lethal Pursuits
A NSW police highway patrol car slammed into the vehicle of Gai Vieira at an intersection in Cronulla on 5 September. At the time of the collision, the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command officer was in pursuit of another driver who...
Julian Burnside Backs Greens’ Benedict Coyne in Bid to Oust Dutton
Renowned barrister Julian Burnside QC posted a tweet on 23 September pointing out that the “cruel detention” on Manus Island and Nauru has cost Australian taxpayers over $9.6 billion, and the cost of detaining each of the 1,650 remaining asylum seekers...
NSW Police Force Doubles Strip Searches
The NSW Police Force has nearly doubled the number of strip searches it carries out after positive indications from drug detection dogs. In 2016, police officers carried out around 590 strip searches after an initial search turned up nothing, while in...
