“Everyone deserves to enjoy music festivals safely, but Victoria’s out-of-date and punitive drug laws are putting those who enjoy festivals at risk,” said Victorian Greens’ health spokesperson Dr Tim Read. “Pill testing reduces harmful drug use and connects young people to harm reduction services.” Dr Read says that savings will also flow on, by also preventing hospital admissions caused by…

This is not a matter of giving a green light to drugs. It is doing what we do with safe injecting rooms – saying: “We wish you wouldn’t take these drugs, but if you are going to do it, at least do it while minimising the risks, and let us talk to you about the dangers while we have your…

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has hinted she could remain open to the possibility of pill testing at music festivals amid reports the NSW Coroner is also considering recommendations police drug operations be scaled back at events.Ms Pilbersek told Today initiatives such as the medically supervised injecting centre in Sydney’s King Cross, where addicts can inject and get medical help away…

Former AFP Commissioner Mick Palmer is renowned for asserting that Australia can’t arrest its way out of the drug problem. And he’s not the only ex-top brass turned drug law reformist. There’s once NSW police commissioner Ken Moroney, as well as ex-Tasmania police commissioner Jack Johnston. And now, former NSW police commissioner Andrew Scipione has joined their ranks. […]

Ms Patten held a press conference on Monday, alongside young people who had experienced near-death incidents as a result of taking drugs, arguing lives lost from drug overdoses could have been saved with pill testing. “The government still hasn’t agreed to a pill testing trial, an initiative that we know can contribute to keeping young people safe and informed,” Ms…

Pill testing expert Dr David Caldicott has called for on-the-spot checks at NSW festivals after Canberra trials proved highly successful, with revellers ditching identified lethal substances. This year 234 revellers at Canberra’s Groovin The Moo participated in the testing resulting in the discovery of 170 substances. Seven were found with the potentially lethal drug n-ethylpentylone, a low dose but dangerous…

The counsel assisting the commission, Sally Dowling SC said the inquiry would hear evidence that the Justice Health department “actively seeks” a needle exchange program in prisons in NSW to address hepatitis C transmission and “broader health problems” associated with non-sterile drug injecting. However, she said, the state’s corrective services department is “steadfastly opposed to such a program”. […]

The minister emphasised: “The ACT government does not condone the use of illicit drugs, we know the safest option remains not to take drugs and this will always be our advice to the community. “However, we also believe governments have a responsibility to not only try and prevent drug use but also to support initiatives that reduce the harms associated…

Luxembourg has called on its EU neighbours to relax their drug laws as its health minister confirmed plans to become the first European country to legalise cannabis production and consumption. “This drug policy we had over the last 50 years did not work,” Etienne Schneider told Politico. “Forbidding everything made it just more interesting to young people … I’m hoping…

The president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, Dr Alex Wodak, said the division between pill testing and BOH supporters is about which approach is more likely to succeed. ”Both groups are unhappy that young people are dying from drugs at festivals, and both groups are frustrated by the often-vacuous criticisms of pill testing. […]