Viewing articles in Tag:

drug law reform

Filter Articles

Greens renew call for Drug Law Reform

Rachel Siewert 4 Mar 2021

The Australian Laywer’s Alliance "Doing More Harm Than Good: The need for a health-focused approach to drug use" report clearly shows that a national approach to harm minimisation is long overdue.  
 
"The legal and medical sectors have been saying for decades that treating drug use as a criminal matter, rather than a health issue does not work", Australian Greens Health spokesperson Senator Rachel Siewert said today. 
 

Read more

Another tragic drug death shows hard-line approach failing to save lives

Australian Greens Leader Dr Richard Di Natale has called for governments across Australia to urgently adopt pill testing, following another tragic death at a Sydney dance party on the weekend.

“My heart goes out to Callum Brosnan’s family and friends, following his tragic death in Sydney as a result of an avoidable drug overdose. Dance parties are a rite of passage for so many young people – and it’s shocking that this one night has ended in tragedy,” Di Natale said.

Read more

A tale of two ideologies

It’s been an odd day today... one that really goes to the question of what sort of society we want to live in.
 
It’s to do with drugs, and how we face up to addiction and dependency in our community.
 
I spent the morning at the RecLink Grand Final in St Kilda, with two teams of players who have faced, and who are facing, issues of drug dependence and addiction.
 
RecLink works in the community to provide people with opportunities and connections through sports, recreation and the arts.
 

Read more

Greens' response to overdoses at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl

“The drug overdoses that occurred last night are another reminder that both state and federal governments are failing young Australians. We need politicians to do what they’re paid to do - make laws that put people’s safety first," Senator Richard Di Natale, leader of the Australian Greens said today.
 
“We know that young people will continue to try drugs. We can’t stick our heads in the sand and pretend it’s not going to happen. What we need to do is give them the tools they need to make educated choices. 
 

Read more

Greens' announce drug policy reform

Leader of the Australian Greens Dr Richard Di Natale has announced that the party has reached consensus on a major reform to its drugs policy at its national conference in Perth.

“For more than half a century we’ve been pursuing a series of failed policies that criminalise a health problem and have only succeeded in making it worse.”

“Working as a drug and alcohol doctor I've seen our punitive approach embolden criminals, tear families apart and destroy the lives of thousands of ordinary people who have used drugs.”

Read more

Di Natale: Time to end the harm caused by illicit drugs

Speaking at a conference in Sydney this afternoon, Australian Greens Leader Dr Richard Di Natale announced a Harm Reduction Innovation Fund to invest in practices that reduce and prevent the harm caused by illicit drugs.

"The old ways of dealing with Australia's longstanding illicit drug issue just don't work. We need to look beyond simply locking people up, to create clever, innovative ways to solve Australia's drug crisis."

Read more

Top Five things Richard has learnt in Portugal

Richard is in Portugal on a study tour to investigate the way in which Portugal has reduced its heroin addicted population by implementing genuine drug law reform -- and it couldn’t be more different to Australia.  Where our politicians frequently declare “war on drugs,” make promises to crack down on drug users and implement zero tolerance policies; Portugal treats individual drug use as a health issue - not a criminal one. Here are the top five things Richard has learnt so far.

Read more

Multi-party group puts medicinal cannabis on the agenda

The recently re-established Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy and Law Reform believes that the time has come for Australia push beyond the stigma which bans medicinal cannabis.

The cross party group, co-convened by federal Coalition, Labor and Greens parliamentarians has today advanced the discussion on medicinal cannabis by hosting an event on the issue at Parliament House, which was attended by representatives of all major parties. 

Read more