Jeff Sessions was met with considerable skepticism when he announced his desire to revive D.A.R.E. But it turns out that the current program is nothing like the ineffective D.A.R.E. of the ‘80’s and '90’s.
Generally, people under 40 have reported a decrease in recent illicit drug usage since 2001, while people 40 or older have reported an increase in recent years.
AAP Image/Paul Miller
The proportion of population who use legal and illegal drugs has remained stable or trended down. Fewer young people are using, but the proportion of older people using drugs and alcohol has grown.
Urine samples can pick up some types of illicit drugs but can’t say whether that drug use affects someone’s ability to look for work.
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The proposal to drug test welfare recipients needs to be fine-tuned otherwise the government will be targetting the wrong people and be tied up in legal challenges.
Peter Lyndon-James turned his life around and went on to establish a private rehabilitation service in Perth.
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Shalom House calls itself the ‘strictest drug rehabilitation centre in the country’ but evidence of its so-called success is anecdotal at best.
Police seized 200kg of methamphetamine during a drug bust in Perth, Western Australia, in May 2016.
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West Australian Labor leader Mark McGowan said his state has the “worst rate of methamphetamine usage in the country”. We asked the experts to check the evidence.
Fans criticised Sia for a ‘lacklustre’ concert.
EPA/Balazs Mohai
Media reports have suggested that many young athletes who become injured abuse prescription painkillers and may move to heroin. One of the first studies to look at this suggests otherwise.
A sea change in pain treatment helped create the opioid abuse epidemic, and another sea change in how doctors view chronic pain could help curb it.
A man injects himself with heroin using a needle obtained from the People’s Harm Reduction Alliance, the nation’s largest needle-exchange program, in Seattle, Washington.
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Why have the demographics of heroin use changed so much? For that, we can look to dramatic increase in prescriptions for opioid painkillers, such as Oxycontin or Vicodin.
Evidence-based drug treatments are relatively successful at reducing use and improving quality of life.
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Are addicts sick and helpless victims with little control over their own behaviour, or brazen criminals who deserve to be punished accordingly?
The many people who are mourning the loss of Phil Walsh should also reflect on what we as a society can do to help families avoid such tragedies.
AAP/Ben Macmahon
The killing of Phil Walsh is a tragedy for his family and the football community. It should also lead us to question whether we do enough to support families before the issues they face spiral out of control.
It is unlikely that drug testing in workplaces and at nightclubs will have any discernible impact of rates of use.
Since the NT Intervention a large body of evidence has built up showing that income management does not achieve its stated goals. So why does it continue?
AAP/Dean Lewins
Various studies, culminating in the final evaluation report of income management in the Northern Territory, have found such programs don’t achieve the claimed benefits. Why did the budget extend them?
Will Ed’s crime policies lead him on the path to the premiership?
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