Decriminalisation Debate Heats Up | Schools Lock Bathrooms to Tackle Vaping | US Budget Allocates Billions to Harm Reduction
All the drug policy and related news from the past week in one place.
Hello!
Happy Saturday and welcome to issue #73 of Drugs Wrap, a weekly compilation of the top stories in drug policy from across Australia and around the world.
Apologies for the interruption in service you may have noticed. February was an incredibly busy month for me but I’ll be back to writing these weekly from now on.
There’s been a lot happening this week, including the reignited debates around drug decriminalisation efforts in the ACT and VIC. Sky News has gone on the offensive as one might expect, slamming Federal Labor MP Alicia Payne for her support of the policy in the capital.
Vaping is also continuing to make headlines as parents and schools struggle to deal with the issue of students using the disposable devices. There is however little evidence for how much of an issue the problem is, one that appears not to have been addressed by the nicotine restrictions brought in explicitly to deal with it last year.
In the US, President Biden’s state of the union address has mentioned harm reduction for the first time, with the promise of a vast increase in resources to tackle the opioid crisis. However, much of the money on offer appears to be headed towards the tired policies of deterrence rather than treatment.
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Let’s get to it.
Victoria’s ‘Radical’ New Drug Laws Idea Stirs Fierce Debate
Two big conversations going on in Australia around drug policy over the past week. The first is Reason MP Fiona Patten’s introduction of legislation that would decriminalise personal drug use and possession by diverting people caught with drugs to treatment programmes.
In doing so, Patten has pushed back into the spotlight policies that the Victorian Government has previously said it would not support. While there are dissenting voices in government, many harm reduction advocates, including former police offers are in favour of the changes. Politicians, however, fear it sends the message that ‘drugs are okay to use’ and, predictably, invoke drug use by children in their argument.
The story actually gets a very sympathetic write up by News.com.au at the link above, while Patten has said that evidence shows this kind of approach has broad community support.
‘Common sense’ Will Tell You the Decriminalisation of Drugs is ‘Dangerous’
The second debate is the ongoing one around similar policies currently being debated in the ACT. The argument is back in the press after Federal Labor MP Alicia Payne came out in support of the measure, something Labor Leader Anthony Albanese has tried to distance himself from.
Sky, again predictably, have come out in staunch opposition of the idea, with Sky News bringing Fresh Start Recovery Programme’s Tina Gunter on to deride the bill.
Gunter said it is ‘ludicrous’ for Payne to suggest decriminalising the proposed level of possession of drugs will make it easier for people to get help.
‘This legislation is fraught with danger’, Gunter said.
‘We need to open up conversations and make it easier for people to go and get help, and rather then decriminalising it, making sure that people have got support to get the help they need’.
Peta Credlin also attacked the ‘radical left wing push’ to decriminalise drugs, dragging both Patten and Payne while calling on the reliably critical Liberal Senator Zed Seselja to wring his hands over the issue.
‘The decriminalisation of … all of these hard drugs, which common sense will tell you – but also many, many experts including the head of the AFP Reece Kershaw will tell you – will lead to more violence’, Seselja said.
The ACT government is yet to respond to the assembly committe inquiry report which recommedend the passing of MLA Michael Petttersson’s bill. Once it does, the bill will then be voted on.
People in Geelong Are Not Impressed With the Current Drug Policy, Survey Finds
Despite all this, a new survey in Geelong has found that the vast majority of people in that region support an overhaul of drug policy measures.
Family Drug Support – who carried out the survey – says it is clear there is huge dissatisfaction with current drug policy, with 87.5% of people there in favour of needle and syringe programmes and 85.7% in favour of pill testing.
83.1% of people surveyed were also found to support medically supervised injecting centres and there is similarl support for medicinal cannabis.
Could it be that hardline drug policy is simply a stick to beat the opposition with? One that is wielded at the expense of all of those who suffer under it? Surely not.
Penington’s The Bulletin Publishes March Issue
Not-for-profit harm reduction organisation The Penington Institute has published its March edition of their monthly magazine, The Bulletin.
This month’s issue looks at the fear around fentanyl use in Australia, the life-saving impact of take home naloxone, how NSP workers speak about their jobs to friends and family, and a Q and A with Canadian Senator and harm reduction advocate Vernon White.
Schools Lock Toilets to Tackle Rampant Vaping
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell has told budget estimates that the use of e-cigarettes among young people was a growing concern, and she was working with NSW Health and other agencies on a whole-of-government response.
Mitchell told the Herald this could include advertising, additional resources in schools and curated information for parents.
‘What’s needed is a broad community response to vaping, just like what we saw with smoking’, Mitchell said.
While it’s already illegal to sell vapes to anyone without a prescription - particularly young people - the lack of regulation around the products due to their blanket restriction has meant young people without a history of smoking can pick them up easily.
I would however take issue with a few of the claims in this article, including the assertion that vapes ‘appear designed to appeal to young people with bright colours, sweet flavours and shapes that disguise them as pens or USB sticks’.
Some schools have apparently resorted to installing vape detectors in bathrooms:
‘One school in regional NSW that did install them said they seemed to have had a deterrent effect, while another principal in Sydney said they were an absolute waste of time because they were vandalised very quickly’.
This Week in Weed
AMCA and MCIA Tell Industry: ‘Put Your Own House in Order’
It’s Time for the Industry to Walk the Talk When Conducting Itself
Huge Cannabis Crop Harvested at Tamworth with Custom Machine
Don’t Pump Up Cannabis as Wonder Cure for COVID, Warns MCIA Chair
South African Constitutional Court to Hear Arguments for the Decriminalisation and Use of Cannabis by Children
Around the World
2022 US State of the Union Includes First-Ever Nod to Harm Reduction
The 2022 State of the Union address was the first such speech to mention harm reduction. The brief reference reinforced both the Biden administration’s inclusion of harm reduction in its approach to drug policy as well its habit of doing so to the minimum possible degree.
The President’s 2022 budget request includes a historic $41 billion for drug policy efforts, including $10.7 billion to fund research, prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery support services.
However, Biden is looking to spend a total of $23.5 billion on public health approaches which are framed as an approach to ‘reduce drug use and its consequences.’ This also means spending $17.5 billion on supply reduction at the borders.
Elsewhere in the US, new data shows that Black people are now dying at a higher rate from drug overdoses than white people. In the first wave of the opioid overdose crisis, white people prescribed pain medications were driving most of the fatalities. Now, Black people, often buying cheaper and more dangerous opioids, are the largest demographic.
Zero-Tolerance Drug Policies Stop UK Students Seeking Help, Report Says
A report from the Higher Education Policy Institute highlights surveys that suggest just three in 10 students would be confident to disclose information regarding their drug use to their institution without fear of punishment. Meanwhile, 16% of students surveyed who use illegal drugs reported having scary experiences but did not go to hospital or seek help.
‘Drug-related deaths, which occur every year within universities, are largely preventable if the right policies and practices are in place’, the report says.
‘If zero tolerance means fewer people coming forward for help, and potentially life-saving information is not communicated to those unwilling or unable to cease illicit drug taking, then for us that is a matter of concern’.
Staring into the Abyss: Examining Venezuela’s Drug Policies
‘Venezuelan drug policy is an abyss’, writes Mauro Echeverría.
‘Difficult to look in from the outside, and challenging to understand the entire picture, there is little and unreliable data on almost every aspect of the political landscape due to Maduro’s dictatorship’.
‘Their drug policy is not an exception. However, thanks to the Venezuelan Embassy in Canada and their newly uploaded anti-drug plan, some information on their drug policy and its future strategic direction has become publicly available. This article reviews what we now know about drug policy in Venezuela’.
Snapchat Promises New Rules to Fight Drug Sales
Snapchat says it’s making changes to make it harder for kids to buy drugs on its platform.
An NBC News investigation published in October found that Snapchat was linked to the sale of fentanyl-laced pills that killed teenagers and young adults in over a dozen states.
Now Snapchat says new parental controls are coming to the social networking app. The include options to limit friend suggestions for teen users so that strangers can’t easily find their accounts. It will also stop showing accounts for 13 to 17-year-olds as suggestions to others unless they have enough friends in common.
The Psychedelic Selection
In Oregon, Psychedelics Regulators Confront Conflicts of Interest
Dr Zac Turner on magic mushrooms and microdosing
Love & Other Drugs: The Couples Using Psychedelics as a Way To Get Closer
Therapeutic Psychedelics: Mental Health ‘Magic Bullet’ or Expensive Trip?
The Biggest Reason People in Oregon Want to Use Psilocybin
The Road to Psychedelics Legalisation
LSD Microdosing Study Finds ‘No Residual Effects’ on Mood or Cognition
100% of Psychonauts Visited Other Worlds During DMT Study
Dr Bronner’s Magic Soaps Offers Free Ketamine-Assisted Therapy to Employees
Study: Psilocybin Treatment for Major Depression Effective for Up to a Year for Most Patients
The Rise of Psychedelic Retreats
Harvard University Revives Research Into Use of Psychedelic Drugs After Sixty Years
Is the Hype Around Psychedelics Bursting?
Watch: Sex and Drugs Inside a Corrupt Rehab Clinic | VICE
Listen: Fungi: The New Frontier | BBC Radio 4
Listen: Why One Victorian Politician Thinks Drugs Should Be Legal | The Daily Aus
Listen: Power Trip Episode Six: Open Heart Surgery | New York Magazine
I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to elders past and present. Sovereignty was never ceded.
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend, and I look forward to sharing all the latest with you next Friday.
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