Latest news: Drug reform

Last month, the American state of Oregon ended three years of drug decriminalisation. James Milligan MLA says it is a "salutary experience" .

I read with interest an article on Saturday by Crispin Hull where he said the federal opposition were quite within their rights to introduce a bill to overturn the ACT Government’s dangerous decriminalisation of drugs act.

Shadow Attorney-General Senator Michaelia Cash introduced a private senators’ bill to overturn the ACT's drug decriminalisation laws

Jeremy Hanson MLA’s motion to delay the decriminalisation of hard drugs until after next year's election was defeated.

Jeremy Hanson MLA says the ACT Government needs a mandate for their "reckless, dangerous" policy to decriminalise possession of hard drugs.

The ACT will decriminalise hard drugs next month - some say the reforms will improve health, others that they will increase crime.

Drugs decriminalisation is being debated in the ACT Legislative Assembly this afternoon. The amendments health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith made in June to her ACT Labor colleague Michael Pettersson’s motion are expected to pass. But the ACT Greens also want to make amendments, while the Canberra Liberals oppose the decriminalisation of hard drugs entirely.

Most Canberrans (82 per cent) supported the decriminalisation of cannabis, while twice as many ACT residents approved of regular cannabis use (20 per cent) than smoking (10.6 per cent), according to the 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) published earlier this month.

Bill Stefaniak’s Belco Party and several hundred Canberrans want to stop the ACT Government's "decadent" drugs decriminalisation bill.

The police union and Bill Stefaniak fear decriminalising small amounts of illicit drugs will increase crime and violence.

Decriminalising drugs is a unique opportunity for the ACT, says ACTCOSS. CAHMA and ATODA also welcomed the ACT Government’s reforms.

Drugs are not dangerous because they are illegal; drugs are illegal because drugs are dangerous, this letter writer says.

This letter writer takes issue with Senator Zed Seselja's view on drug reform, and argues existing drug laws haven't reduced illicit drug use.

In this opinion piece, Liberal Senator for the ACT, Zed Seselja argues the local ACT Labor-Greens Government wants to make changes to our drug laws that go against the very instinct of keeping our kids safe.

Senator Zed Seselja is worried that with Labor MP Alicia Payne's support, the decriminalisation of illicit drugs could become ACT law.

Labor MLA Michael Pettersson’s bill to amend the ACT drug laws should be passed, a Legislative Assembly committee recommended today – but the Canberra Liberals (including committee chair Peter Cain MLA) dissented, saying they cannot support the bill as it stands.