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Last weekend saw another series of overdoses, this time in Melbourne.
According to the United Nation's 2014 World Drug Report, Australia has the highest proportion of recreational drug users in the world. This suggests that this country's drug policy has been ineffective in reducing use or curbing demand, let alone protecting people from the harm that illicit drugs can cause.
For example, we are number one in the world when it comes to per capita use of ecstasy. While the government has paid lip service to "harm minimisation", it has actively opposed the use of pill testing at concerts and festivals. Not only does pill testing help people to avoid consuming ecstasy laced with dangerous chemicals, it additionally appears to have an impact in shaping the black market. According to a report made by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, "Products identified as particularly dangerous that subsequently became the subject of warning campaigns were found to leave the market."
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Prohibition does not protect our children
Drug prohibition is not protecting young Australians; it is killing them.
Last weekend, an apparently tainted batch of illegal drugs caused the needless deaths of three Melbournians and left another 20 hospitalised. In 2015, six ecstasy-related deaths were reported at Australian music festivals, and the latest statistics show that, on average, four Australians die every day from drug overdose. That's 1400 people per year.
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What makes it so hard to quit drugs?
Most people who use alcohol and other drugs do so infrequently and never become dependent (or "addicted" as it's sometimes called). On average about 10% of people who use alcohol or other drugs are dependent.
But for those who do become dependent, reducing their use, getting off or staying off can be difficult.
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Australia's Drug Policies Have Failed: It's time to reinvent them based on what actually works
There is only one way to make better decisions about illicit drugs and so save lives and money: we need to change the way drugs policies are made.
The alternative is to remain stuck in the same futile cycle. Every time a young person dies tragically and needlessly at a music festival or dance party, our commentators clamour for our politicians to respond immediately.
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What is NBOMe?
Stephen Bright, Curtin University and Monica Barratt, Curtin University
NBOMe is an abbreviation for N-methoxybenzyl. While NBOMe is often referred to as a drug, it's not a singular drug but a series of drugs that contain an N-methoxybenzyl group.
The most common NBOMes that are used recreationally are extensions of the 2C family of phenethylamine psychedelics that were discovered by Dr Alexander Shulgin. Some, such as 2C-B, became popular in the 1990s as a substitute for MDMA (commonly referred to as ecstasy). The 2C-B NBOMe derivative is 25B-NBOMe. Other common NBOMes include 25I-NBOMe and 25C-NBOMe.
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New Killer Drugs in Australia?
Is Australia really being flooded by new killer drugs?
Stephen Bright, Curtin University and Monica Barratt, UNSW Australia
Recent media reports have suggested Australia is set to be flooded with new types of deadly "synthetic" drugs.
Don't worry, as far as we know, there's no "turbo-charged version of ice" on its way. And we need to steer clear of drug-related moral panic, which increases stigma and makes it harder for users to seek help.
But there is a potential for significant harm in Australia if we don't have adequate systems in place to monitor our drug markets and respond rapidly when specific dangers are detected.
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How big a problem is ice use among Indigenous Australians?
Nicole Lee, Curtin University and Sarah J MacLean, La Trobe University
While rates of methamphetamine use in Australia have remained fairly stable at 2.1% over the past ten years, there has been a shift among people who use the lower-grade powdered form of methamphetamine (speed) to using the higher-grade crystal form (ice) in recent times.
Ice is much stronger than speed and has the potential to cause greater problems.
Purity and availability have increased, while the price of both speed and ice has decreased. The number of people using weekly or more has grown, which is an indication of dependence.
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A drug-free world is an impossible dream - UNGASS 2016
In 1998, a special session of the United Nations General Assembly agreed to set a 10-year deadline to make the world "drug free". After an embarrassing failure to achieve this goal, the deadline was extended a further 10 years, setting the world up for another inevitable failure in 2019.
In the intervening years, the use, availability and variety of illicit drugs have escalated exponentially. It is estimated by the UK charity Transform Foundation that 300 million people worldwide used illegal drugs in 2012, contributing to a global market with a turnover of $US330 billion a year.
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Australia's recreational drug policies aren't working, so what are the options for reform?
Nicole Lee, Curtin University and Alison Ritter, UNSW Australia
Some of the greatest harms from using illicit drugs are because they are illegal.
Illegal drug production is unregulated and many drugs are manufactured in backyard labs. Users cannot be sure what’s in them or how potent they are, so the risk of adverse reactions, including overdose and death, is high.
A large proportion of the work of the justice system – police, courts and prisons – is occupied with drug-related offences. Many people have a criminal record for possessing drugs intended for personal use, which can affect their work prospects.
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Kofi Annan on Why It's Time To Legalize Drugs
Essay by Kofi Annan former Secretary-General of the United Nation
In my experience, good public policy is best shaped by the dispassionate analysis of what in practice has worked, or not. Policy based on common assumptions and popular sentiments can become a recipe for mistaken prescriptions and misguided interventions.
Nowhere is this divorce between rhetoric and reality more evident than in the formulation of global drug policies, where too often emotions and ideology rather than evidence have prevailed.
The Poison of Prohibition
January 21, 2017 · Pete Thrupp
Prohibition does not protect our children
January 18, 2017 · Greg Chipp
What makes it so hard to quit drugs?
December 16, 2016 · Dr Nicole Lee · 3 reactions
Australia's Drug Policies Have Failed: It's time to reinvent them based on what actually works
December 09, 2016 · Alison Ritter
What is NBOMe?
August 31, 2016 · Monica Barratt · 1 reaction
New Killer Drugs in Australia?
August 31, 2016 · Dr Stephen Bright
How big a problem is ice use among Indigenous Australians?
August 29, 2016 · Dr Nicole Lee · 1 reaction
A drug-free world is an impossible dream - UNGASS 2016
April 18, 2016 · Greg Chipp
Australia's recreational drug policies aren't working, so what are the options for reform?
March 27, 2016 · Alison Ritter · 1 reaction
Kofi Annan on Why It's Time To Legalize Drugs
February 25, 2016 · · 2 reactions