Australia’s politicians were unable to make the most persuasive argument for clemency for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran because Australia is also a combatant in the misguided war on drugs.
Methylamphetamine, in particular crystal meth or ‘ice’, has been the subject of much scrutiny in Australia in recent times.
AAP/David Crosling
How does the ACC report help inform the debate around methylamphetamine, and what practical lessons can Australian society and law enforcement draw from it?
Rugby union star Karmichael Hunt has been stood down by his club pending a court appearance on drug supply charges.
AAP/Dan Peled
It will come as no surprise to anyone that drugs are big business, so when a drone crashed in a car park of a US border town weighed down with several kilos of narcotics, it was just another example of…
The rise of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics is a growing worry and threatens to put healthcare back to the early 20th century. Such resistance to drugs was inevitable, because bacteria evolve…
Food can prevent certain medicines being absorbed into the bloodstream.
Bertalan Szürös/Flickr
Have you ever been advised to take a medicine with food? How about taking a medicine with cola or avoiding grapefruit? Hundreds of medicines have food-related dosing instructions. With four out of five…
Some people are more vulnerable.
Chicago Public Media
Paul Hayes, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Drug use is common, drug addiction is rare. About one adult in three will use an illegal drug in their lifetime and just under 3m people will do so this year in England and Wales alone. Most will suffer…
Bali Nine members Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking offences.
EPA/Made Nagi
The Indonesian government plans to execute five convicts on death row before the year ends. Three have been convicted for drug-related crimes. According to The Guardian, the five condemned to death this…
Alex Rodriguez is back on the Yankees’ roster following his one-year suspension for using banned performance enhancing drugs.
Reuters
Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankees’ erstwhile third baseman, has had an interesting career in more ways than one. His use of steroids has resulted in a sullied reputation and a one-year suspension without…
Last year almost 80,000 people took part in the Global Drug Survey and helped us produce the world’s first harm-reduction guide. These experts are people who like taking drugs but want to keep themselves…
Can cause behavioural problems in children later on.
Injection by Shutterstock
Women smoking while pregnant has been an uncomfortable reality for decades. Whatever the reason – whether a lack of concern about the risk, belief it’s too hard to quit or even reports that a resultant…
Pills ok during pregnancy? We can’t know if we don’t study them.
Medications image via www.shutterstock.com
Imagine being pregnant while having a chronic health condition such as diabetes, hypertension, depression or asthma, or being diagnosed with an illness while pregnant. Amazingly, your doctor may not know…
In one respect, the world’s drug problem is not getting much worse. The UN believes that the use of drugs such as cocaine and heroin has stabilised, for example. In fact, the ground in the drugs battle…
Despite the language we use about drugs, many people don’t see themselves as “drug users” but as rational adults who aren’t on a mission to seek moral disintegration and cause themselves harm. People who…
The Silk Road was once a river of commerce across continents. It lives again on the ‘dark net’, that part of the internet that operates on the encrypted TOR network.
Wikimedia Commons
Recent media reports have once again put the public spotlight on cryptomarkets, the eBay-style websites operating on the encrypted dark net. They facilitate a vast and anonymous global trade in black market…
A few doors down from my house, a man is selling drugs. He has herbs to smoke that could leave me happy and stoned and various white powders to ingest that could keep me partying all night. All this would…
The home-baked illicit drug krokodil first emerged in provincial Russia during the early 2000s.
Dorin Popa/Flickr
Andrey Zheluk, University of Sydney e Peter Meylakhs, Russian National Research University The Higher School of Economics
Reports of a “flesh-eating zombie drug” called krokodil, accompanied by lurid images first appeared in English during 2010. The drug serves as an excellent illustration of the havoc bad drug policies can…
In a stark contrast to the conventional drug trade, some users in online marketplaces offer full or partial refunds for drugs that are intercepted by customs.
AAP/Customs
In October 2013, US authorities shut down Silk Road, the world’s largest cryptomarket. At the time, prosecutors claimed that the closure of the so-called “eBay of illicit drugs” represented the beginning…
Papering over the cracks of the war on drugs.
Agência Brasil
There are stories some people might not expect to read about Iran – and its progressive drugs policy is one. As a number of countries begin to slowly reconsider their approach towards illicit drugs, following…