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Category Archives: Drug Reform
JOHN MENADUE. The ‘war on drugs’ is a disastrous failure.We must find a better way
Attached is a collection of articles on drug policy reform, which were published as a series on Pearls and Irritations between 6 and 11 August 2018. This series was designed to draw attention to this important issue, and to the … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform
2 Comments
PETER BAUME. Labor shifts on pill testing.
The Labor leadership has announced, if it wins government, that a drug summit will be held at which pill testing will be discussed. This announcement was made in the run up to a March State election and so is a … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform
5 Comments
PETER MAGUIRE. Regulate It, Man. Marijuana
One of the few issues that many Americans can agree on in 2018 is, improbably, marijuana legalization. Pot is now legal in thirty-three states and Washington, D.C. In April, John Boehner, the former Republican Speaker of the House, made the … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
1 Comment
MICHAEL PASCOE. Victorian election: Tell me, Mr Drug Warrior, how many votes is a human life worth? (New Daily)
Would you be willing to kill people to win a state election, to be Premier of Victoria? Such a large price to pay for such a small prize.
Posted in Drug Reform
1 Comment
HELEN CLARK. Another decade lost to the global war on drugs (The Hill, 20.11.18)
In my experience as head of my country’s government and previously a health minister, as a former senior official at the United Nations, and more recently as a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, I’ve found debates on … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform
2 Comments
ALEX WODAK. Drug law reform in the 2018 US mid term elections.The 2018 US midterm elections has important lessons for Australia regarding drug law reform. In ballot initiatives and elections for office, voters often supported drug law reform with only one major defeat. Presidential election years generally have many more ballot initiatives on drug policy.
The 2018 US midterm elections has important lessons for Australia regarding drug law reform. In ballot initiatives and elections for office, voters often supported drug law reform with only one major defeat. Presidential election years generally have many more ballot … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, International Affairs
1 Comment
MICHAEL THORN. Cricket Australia: Culpable without consequence
Australia’s disgraced cricket trio, Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, may have engineered the ball tampering scandal in South Africa this year, but the damning cultural review released yesterday has found an arrogant and controlling Cricket Australia essentially to … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
2 Comments
MICK PALMER. The drug trade has just kept getting bigger,more dangerous and more prosperous.
The facts are clear. For over half a century our governments have relied heavily on law enforcement to curb the drug trade and reduce drug use. However, despite huge funding, ever increasing levels of police effectiveness and genuine effort, and … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform
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JOHN MENADUE. Drug policy reform series
Attached is a collection of articles on drug policy reform, which were published as a series on Pearls and Irritations between 6 and 11 August 2018.This series is designed to draw attention to this important issue, and to the failure … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Politics
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KOFI ANNAN. Stop ‘war on drugs’ (05.11.13, CNN)
Each year, hundreds of thousands of people around the world die from preventable drug-related disease and violence. Millions of users are arrested and thrown in jail. Globally, communities are blighted by drug-related crime. Citizens see huge amounts of their taxes … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform
1 Comment
JENNIFER DOGETT AND P & I CONTRIBUTIONS. -An important series on drug law reform (Croakey)
Drug law reform is an issue that has been on the political agenda for decades, with varying degrees of urgency. Yet despite the overwhelming evidence for law reform and the sustained efforts of advocates from a range of sectors, most … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Uncategorized
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ALEX WODAK. Drug Reform Series- Portugal’s successful drug law reform in 2001
Treating personal drug use as an administrative offence along the lines of a parking violation has worked well for Portugal. It has not only been a public health and public policy success but also a political one.
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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DOUG TAYLOR. Drug Reform Series. Canada is set to become only the second country in the world to legalise marijuana.
Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, announced the move to legalise marijuana earlier this year. He said the move would take the market share away from organised crime and protect the country’s youth.
Posted in Drug Reform
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CHRIS PUPLICK. Drug Reform series -The evidence for drug policy reform is clear.
Australia’s drug policy regime is ruining people’s lives and causing more misery and cost than it saves. A new approach is needed, one that is evidence based and recognises the personal, social and economic benefits of policies other than mere … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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PETER BAUME. Drug Reform series- Drug policy: None so blind
Current drug policy is based on the unrealistic belief that we can stamp out possession and use of illicit drugs, much like prohibition of alcohol in 1920s America. It also fails to account for the harm caused by our strictly … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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TONY TRIMINGHAM. Drug Reform Series-Don’t punish drug users. Help them instead.
This is mostly a personal story, about my son Damien, who died from heroin use in 1997, at the age of 23. I feel sure that his death could have been avoided if we had at the time an approach … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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HELEN TYRRELL. Drug Reform series-Grasping the nettle: Prisons, drug use and the law
Every day people are imprisoned for drug-related crimes in line with ‘tough on drugs’ policies. It’s time to face the futility and unsustainability of this approach to drug use.
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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KEITH HAMBURGER. Drug Reform series – punishment alone is not the answer.
Australian prisons are severely overcrowded. Much crime is drug related. Some 75% of prisoners have a substance abuse problem. The majority of prisoners are not rehabilitated by their prison experience as evidenced by high recidivism rates, particularly for First Nation … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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GINO VUMBACA. Drug Reform series-At last, a government sanctioned pill testing program
We are finally seeing in Australia the first signs of a recognition by government of the important public health benefits of sanctioned pill testing programs. Law enforcement alone will never overcome the problems that can arise from drug use. Much … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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IAN WEBSTER. Drug Reform Series- Drug policy and justice
In the final analysis, drug policy based on prohibition fails to meet the test of fairness and justice in the lives of those most directly affected.
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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MICHAEL HART. Drug Reform Series – Drub Policy-an addiction to failure
A careful assessment of our policy towards currently illegal drugs and our struggle with the trade in these drugs brings forth a somber but frank conclusion about the war on drugs. It should stop.
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
1 Comment
RALPH SECCOMBE. Drug Reform series-Production of illicit drugs – the balloon effect
Policy on illicit drugs should be developed on the basis that supply can never be cut off. Production is like a balloon: squeeze it in one place, but it will only bulge out elsewhere. This applies all the way to … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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ALEX WODAK. Drug Reform Series -Drug policy: prohibition and punishment is just not effective
The failure and futility of drug prohibition has been well accepted among political elites in Australia for a long time. It is time we debated the merits of regulation, combined with targeted health and social intervention, rather than blunt prohibition … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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BILL BUSH. Drug Reform series- High drug incarceration – harms manifest and benefits hard to perceive
At 160 prisoners per 100,000 of population, Australia’s prison rate in 2016 was more than 3 times the rate of the 1940s and 1950s. The steep increase correlates with an increasingly repressive drug policy and the closure of mental health … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
2 Comments
MICK PALMER. Drug Reform series-The Blind Eye of History: from policing alcohol prohibition to policing drug prohibition
Australia has some unhappy laws which result in people using illicit drugs being severely punished. When thinking about this, one should recall laws used half a century ago to criminalise Aboriginal people who drank alcohol.
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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MARION McCONNELL. Drug Reform series-The long road to drug law reform
“What should I tell people about your son’s death”, asked our Minister. He was there to discuss arrangements for our son’s funeral. In my overwhelming grief it hadn’t crossed my mind, but now it immediately struck me. Our son had … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
1 Comment
GEOFF GALLOP. Drug Reform series-The politics of drug decriminalisation
Policies around drug decriminalisation should be evidence based, recognise the need for a nuanced rather than fundamentalist approach and take account of the advances made in the field of harm reduction, not just law enforcement. Reform measures should be premised … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
1 Comment
ANN SYMONDS. Drug Reform series -The politics of social change
The War on Drugs has failed. Not only has it failed to stem the use of illicit drugs but it has also given rise to a host of other issues, including increased crime and corruption and a higher rate of … Continue reading
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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JOHN MENADUE Drug reform series
From next Monday Pearls and Irritations will be posting fifteen articles on the need for drug reform.
Posted in Drug Reform
3 Comments