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‘Out of control’: new findings suggest NSW Police aren’t abiding by strip search procedures
Gino Vumbaca, President of Harm Reduction Australia and Pill Testing Australia, questioned why strip searching has to continue in the first place. “I think what’s fundamentally missing from this report is an understanding of the impact of strip searching people, and young people at that” […]
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Outrage Grows Over NSW Government’s Backflip on Drug Law Reform
NSW premier Chris Minns last week shattered the drug law reform agenda he’d been spruiking pre-election. The Labor leader has pushed his drug summit back to the end of the term and said he has “no mandate” for decriminalising drugs on the day his party colleagues made it law in the ACT. […]
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A haven for ‘drug tourism’ or beacon of hope? The rhetoric around decriminalisation in the ACT
Ahead of new laws coming in October, advocates answer police fears about more drug-driving deaths and bikie violence with a call to work together […]
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Calls to take Canberra’s drug-checking service CanTEST on the road to better help Australians
The facility has confirmed what authorities had long warned – that each link in the illicit drug trade is in it for themselves. Dealers often dilute drugs, mixing in chemicals that stretch their stash – and their cash – as far as possible. […]
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VIDEO: Drop-in drug checking clinic provides worrying insight into Australia’s party drugs
Nearly a thousand people have come forward to have their drugs tested and the results suggest a host of dangerous supplements and contamination may be found in the country’s party drugs. […]
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‘Scare tactics’: Criminal defence lawyer slams moral panic over ACT drug decriminalisation
A recent push to decriminalise cocaine, heroin and ice in the ACT has sparked a reaction as old as time itself from the police. […]
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A haven for ‘drug tourism’ or beacon of hope? The rhetoric around decriminalisation in the ACT
Ahead of new laws coming in October, advocates answer police fears about more drug-driving deaths and bikie violence with a call to work together […]
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NSW Premier Says No to Drug Decriminalisation, as the ACT Embarks on Bold Health Approach
Finally, this week, drug decriminalisation came to Australian shores. Laws passed by a Labor Greens government in the ACT came into effect on Monday. Yet, on that very same day, NSW Labor premier Chris Minns decided to rain down on Canberra’s parade, telling the Murdoch press that his government isn’t contemplating drug decriminalisation at present, but if he is voted…
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“I Hope It’s Overturned”: Former Magistrate Heilpern on Revoking of Drug Driving Mistake Defence
The drug driving regime in this state, as in the rest of the country, has always been controversial, as the testing model used, which ultimately sees people charged and lose their driver licence, doesn’t test for impairment levels, like drink driving, but rather tests for the mere presence of a drug. […]
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NSW court ruling will make it almost impossible to contest drug-driving charges, legal experts claim
David Heilpern, a former magistrate who retired in 2020 in large part because of his concerns NSW’s drug-driving laws were too punitive, described the judge’s decision as “extraordinary” and precedent-setting. […]
