Posted
| UpdatedA professor who has been at the forefront of providing health care vulnerable people around Sydney's Kings Cross for 30 years is calling for drug use to be decriminalised.
Topics: drugs-and-substance-abuse, drug-use, drug-offences, homelessness, prostitution, kings-cross-2011
Posted
| UpdatedFelicity Ward is a stand-up comic whose personal experience of mental illness is at the core of her comedy work. Though passionate about her career, she says persistent anxiety has dampened the joy of making people laugh.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, comedy-humour, television, government-and-politics, world-politics, political-parties, alp, health, mental-health, stress, drug-use, alcohol, australia, united-kingdom
Posted
| UpdatedA meth user who surprised visitors to the War Memorial in Canberra by parading naked nearby was driven to do so by a combination of poor mental health and drug abuse, the ACT Supreme Court hears.
Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, drug-use, crime, canberra-2600, act, australia
Posted
| UpdatedThe father of a poster-child for medicinal cannabis was in tears as police confiscated the drug from their home, according to a video shown in court as he answers charges of cultivation and possession.
Topics: cannabis, drug-use, health, health-policy, drug-offences, gosford-2250
Posted
| UpdatedShaman have used the psychoactive effects of ayahuasca for spiritual and healing purposes for hundreds of years. But a new breed of tourist has discovered this plant-based drug.
Topics: community-and-society, drug-use, health, travel-and-tourism, australia, peru
Posted
| UpdatedIt was three days before Lyndie Dawson-Clarke found out her son Matthew had died suddenly in the Amazon on an ayahuasca retreat. Now, she's warning other young travellers about the dangers of the hallucinogenic plant.
Topics: drug-use, death, travel-and-tourism, community-and-society, lifestyle-and-leisure, peru, new-zealand, australia
Posted
One in 50 festival-goers were found with drugs at a music event in Sydney's eastern suburbs on a weekend that saw nearly 150 people caught with illicit substances — including at an under-18s festival.
Topics: drugs-and-substance-abuse, drug-education, drug-use, drug-offences, carnivals-and-festivals, randwick-2031, homebush-2140, bondi-junction-2022, paddington-2021, redfern-2016
Posted
An Indonesian court hands down a seven-month jail term to the former war correspondent, whose legal team argued he had used drugs because he suffered from post traumatic stress.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, drugs-and-substance-abuse, drug-offences, crime, drug-use, courts-and-trials, bali, indonesia
Posted
A Queensland community lawyer says grandparents are contacting her daily seeking custody of their grandchildren and requests for information are increasing.
Topics: drugs-and-substance-abuse, drug-use, older-people, family-law, maroochydore-4558
Posted
Synthetic drugs such as "herbal highs" and "party pills" will be banned in Victoria, as the State Government moves to close a legal loophole.
Topics: drug-use, drug-offences, states-and-territories, vic
Posted
Police are seizing crystal methamphetamine, or ice, of 100 per cent purity, South Australia's drug rehabilitation services warn, as the state grapples with ways to fight the drug use epidemic.
Topics: states-and-territories, government-and-politics, federal---state-issues, drugs-and-substance-abuse, community-and-society, drug-education, drug-use, health, drug-offences, sa, murray-bridge-5253, whyalla-5600, mount-gambier-5290, adelaide-5000
Posted
| UpdatedAs Western Australia's state election draws nearer, substance abuse experts and families torn apart by methamphetamine warn major political parties they can not "arrest" their way out of the state's drug problem.
Topics: elections, government-and-politics, drug-use, drugs-and-substance-abuse, wa, geraldton-6530
Posted
The doctor who gave methadone to an inmate at Canberra's jail two days prior to his death tells an inquest that it is "very unusual and unlikely" to die from such a small dosage.
Topics: drug-use, health, drug-education, drugs-and-substance-abuse, prisons-and-punishment, law-crime-and-justice, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, black-deaths-in-custody, canberra-2600, act, australia
Posted
| UpdatedInmates will receive a smaller drug dosage and have to wait longer to get it under changes to the methadone program at Canberra's prison.
Topics: drug-use, prisons-and-punishment, drugs-and-substance-abuse, law-crime-and-justice, hume-2620, canberra-2600, act, australia
Posted
| UpdatedThe Northern Territory Police investigate allegations hundreds of thousands of dollars has been misappropriated from one of the Territory's most important alcohol rehabilitation programs.
Topics: government-and-politics, rural-youth, rural, alcohol, drug-use, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, rehabilitation, tennant-creek-0860, nt
Posted
The ‘Not Our Way’ campaign includes this video which focuses on the effects of methylamphetamine abuse.
Topics: drugs-and-substance-abuse, health, addictive, drug-use, police, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, nsw
Posted
| UpdatedA drug used to treat heroin overdoses, which currently costs about $100 to buy over the counter, will be subsidised by the Victorian Government for drug users and families who struggle to afford it.
Topics: drugs-and-substance-abuse, community-and-society, drug-use, addictive, states-and-territories, melbourne-3000, vic
Posted
| UpdatedQueensland children in residential care are being given medication to control their behaviour, without appropriate diagnosis and parental consent, the state's Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) says.
Topics: child-health-and-behaviour, health, public-sector, government-and-politics, drug-use, brisbane-4000, qld, australia
Posted
| UpdatedIce has been called the most dangerous and destructive drug of our time. But what exactly does it do to your body?
Posted
| UpdatedAyelet Waldman spent her life struggling with debilitating mood swings, anger and depression. Then she discovered LSD.
Topics: drug-use, mental-health, health, drugs-and-substance-abuse, community-and-society, united-states
Posted
More than 20 people have been taken to hospital, many in a critical condition, after overdosing on drugs at the Electric Parade Music Festival.
Topics: drugs-and-substance-abuse, drug-use, drug-offences, melbourne-3000
Posted
| UpdatedA potentially lethal drug that can "bring down elephants" and is 10,000 times more potent than morphine is discovered at a Brisbane mail centre, sparking urgent police warnings.
Topics: drug-offences, crime, drug-use, brisbane-4000, qld, australia
Posted
"There is no ice epidemic, that is absolutely clear." Dr Nicole Lee challenges the media's coverage of the drug's usage in Australia.
Topics: drugs-and-substance-abuse, drug-education, drug-use, drug-offences, mental-health, human-interest, adelaide-5000
Posted
Tougher laws, more drug-driving tests and greater search powers for police are all options on the table as South Australia sets up a taskforce to urgently tackle growing use of the drug ice.
Topics: states-and-territories, government-and-politics, drug-offences, drug-use, health, drugs-and-substance-abuse, community-and-society, sa
Posted
| UpdatedThe Victorian Government rejected a report it commissioned which recommended the introduction of compulsory mental health and drug treatment for vulnerable children in the strife-torn child protection and youth justice systems.
Topics: youth, drug-offences, crime, law-crime-and-justice, drug-use, health, drugs-and-substance-abuse, community-and-society, state-parliament, parliament, government-and-politics, vic, melbourne-3000