Can’t make up your mind in the recreational cannabis referendum? You’re not alone, so here’s some tips from both sides of the debate to help you decide.
New Zealand will hold the world’s first national referendum on legalising recreational use of cannabis in September. It must learn from mistakes in implementing earlier drug law reforms.
Dealing with cannabis is basically a state matter but the Greens propose an Australian Cannabis Agency be set up to bring together state and territory governments, experts and regulators.
The not-for-profit UK group The Loop said it tested the drug ecstasy with ‘loop lasers’ at a festival in July 2016.
The Loop UK/Facebook
Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said conducting on-site drug tests at public events “safely and quickly is not really a practical option”. But the technology is available.
Police seized 200kg of methamphetamine during a drug bust in Perth, Western Australia, in May 2016.
AAP Image/Department of Immigration and Border Protection
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.
Was David Leyonhjelm correct about the proportion of drug law enforcement costs attributable to cannabis?
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm told parliament that of the $1.5 billion spent annually on drug law enforcement, 70% is attributable to cannabis. Are those numbers correct?
Iran burns drugs in an annual ritual – but levels of use remain high.
Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
Australian governments are spending more on law enforcement against illicit drugs than treatment and prevention, according to a report released today by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. The…
One argument for legalisation is it will move the problem away from police and the criminal justice system, where it currently dominates resources.
AAP Image/Simon Mossman
We should all be concerned about our laws on illegal drugs because they affect all of us – people who use drugs; who have family members using drugs; health professionals seeing people for drug-related…
Brazilian police patrol a favela in Rio De Janiero.
EPA/Marcelo Sayao
Former Brazilian President, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, has argued that the war on drugs has failed and cannabis should be decriminalised. He argued that the hardline approach has brought “disastrous” consequences…
It’s worth taking another look at Bob Carr’s record on decriminalising drugs.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
The Australia21 thinktank has today released a report describing the war on drugs as a failure. Foreign Minister Senator Bob Carr, part of the working group that developed the report, today told the ABC…
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford