Decriminalizing drugs is not intended as a solution to drug problems. Rather, it is a critical first step that’s necessary, but not sufficient, for replacing prohibition with a public health approach.
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Articles on Drug use
Displaying 1 - 20 of 137 articles
The animal studies are promising but early research in humans show mixed results. Here’s what we know so far.
One report says methamphetamine use is rising. Another says it’s falling. So what’s going on?
Negative attitudes lead to stigma, which sees people who use drugs isolated and marginalised.
Calls to destigmatize language around drug addiction must be combined with action to change policies that stigmatize people in early recovery.
An overdose death in Boulder County, Colorado, was linked to a powerful new formulation of a designer drug never approved for use in humans.
Some 17,000 people told us exactly how much they drank, smoked and used illicit drugs. Here’s a unique snapshot of Australians’ vices.
The good news is most teenagers don’t use illicit drugs, and the majority of those who do only do so occasionally and don’t come to serious harm.
Taking MDMA can raise our body temperature higher than it should be. Extreme heat may compound this effect.
Testing workers for drug and alcohol use can reduce injuries but is less effective than a comprehensive approach to improving staff health.
Overdose deaths did go up in Oregon after drug decriminalisation, but they were already increasing, as they were in nearby states.
LGBTQ+ people face barriers to accessing substance use services, but research shows there are ways to make them more inclusive and supportive.
A police policy of not making arrests for simple possession is a way to essentially decriminalize personal drug use. However, confiscating drugs — even without arrests — can be harmful in many ways.
Potential inaccuracies in CDC high school surveys may have created an exaggerated perception that LGBQ youth engage in risky behaviors, new research shows.
MDMA and cocaine are known to speed up people’s perception of time, while LSD can induce a sense of timelessness.
Nature-based programmes are a way to support people with drug and alcohol problems at a time when health problems related to substance use are rising.
Xylazine, or tranq, is increasingly being mixed with drugs like fentanyl or heroin and can be difficult to detect. Most people who use drugs are unable to tell if they have been exposed to it.
Judy Ryan’s book describes, in meticulous detail, what it took for the Victorian government to trial the state’s first safe injecting facility, through the lens of a local Richmond resident.
Photographing the lives of women meth users in rural America.
As British Columbia begins a new era in drug policy, the drug poisoning crisis continues without an end in sight.
Top contributors
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Adjunct Professor at the National Drug Research Institute (Melbourne based), Curtin University
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Honorary Fellow, Department of Health Sciences, University of York
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Lecturer, RMIT University
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Associate professor, La Trobe University
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Associate Professor, Mental Health and Addiction, Rural Health Research Institute, Charles Sturt University
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Senior Lecturer of Addiction, Edith Cowan University
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Senior Lecturer in Criminology, UNSW Sydney
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Emeritus Professor, The National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, The University of Queensland
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Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow, Social Equity Research Centre and Digital Ethnography Research Centre, RMIT University
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PhD Candidate, School of Nursing, University of British Columbia
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Alcohol and other drug specialist, University of New South Wales &, University of New England
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Associate Professor, Public Health, Monash University
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Professor and Deputy Director, Monash Addiction Research Centre, Monash University
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Professor in Substance Use, Liverpool John Moores University
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Professor, National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University
