Under Daniel Andrews, pill testing was a non-starter. Jacinta Allan made it permanent within months. Summer overdoses were a big reason why.
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.At the Hardmission electronic music festival in January, “people just started dropping” after taking party drugs on the 33-degree day at Flemington Racecourse. Victoria’s Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt already didn’t need to be personally convinced that pill testing was good policy. But the mass overdose, and those that followed, convinced her the time to act was now.
She viewed the issue through a harm reduction lens, accepting that people took drugs, with concern for an increasingly volatile market. Drug checking was never debated in cabinet under Andrews as a result, three ministers who served during his leadership explained. “He made publicly known before we even had a debate,” one said.“He wouldn’t have a bar of it,” another said. And it wasn’t at the top of many people’s to-do list: “You picked your battles.”
It was a “kumbaya moment” on drug policy, one advocate joked, even if it was deflecting from the government going cold on the promised CBDIn April, the government formally walked away from that plan, despite a rise in heroin-related deaths in the City of Melbourne and fears that dangerous nitazenes and fentanyl could circulate more widely. The government remains committed to the North Richmond facility, and the April announcement included a drug strategy with expanded pharmacotherapy.
RedBridge pollster Kos Samaras, a former Labor strategist, said the government was talking to a generation of voters and a growing proportion of the electorate who did not view recreational drugs as taboo. Union secretary Paul Healey said he had been joking for about a year that he would organise a picket line around a guerilla pill testing site to create a makeshift amnesty zone and block arrests.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Royal Mail bidders, paradise islands and Prague properties: questions asked over Daniel Křetínský’s business linksCzech billionaire’s long-time business partners linked to controversial global property deals
Read more »
Former West Coast Eagles premiership player Daniel Kerr avoids jail over domestic violence chargesFormer AFL premiership player, Daniel Kerr, has avoided more jail time for repeated domestic violence offences against his ex-partner over six years.
Read more »
Fallen West Coast Eagles premiership player Daniel Kerr avoids jail time despite family violence conviction7NEWS brings you the latest local news from Australia and around the world. Stay up to date with all of the breaking sport, politics, entertainment, finance, weather and business headlines. Today's news, live updates & all the latest breaking stories from 7NEWS.
Read more »
Former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve savages Daniel Ricciardo ahead of Canadian Grand PrixFormer Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve says Daniel Ricciardo is only still in F1 because of his 'image' in a savage take-down ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.
Read more »
Daniel Ricciardo issues pointed response to Formula One critics at Canadian Grand Prix7NEWS brings you the latest local news from Australia and around the world. Stay up to date with all of the breaking sport, politics, entertainment, finance, weather and business headlines. Today's news, live updates & all the latest breaking stories from 7NEWS.
Read more »
Daniel Ricciardo stuns with impressive FI qualifying resultAustralian Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo will start in 5th position on the grid for the Canadian Grand Prix after an impressive drive in qualifying on Saturday.
Read more »