HARM REDUCTION AUSTRALIA - Key Persons
Professor Adeeba Kamarulzaman graduated from Monash University in 1987 and trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Monash Medical Centre and Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. She is presently the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya.
Professor Adeeba returned to Malaysia in 1997 and established the Infectious Diseases Unit at the University Malaya Medical Centre which has since grown to be one of the national referral and training centers for the specialty. In 2007 she established the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA) at the University of Malaya to develop and enhance HIV/AIDS research activities in Malaysia. CERiA's research efforts focus on the key affected and marginalized populations and transcend clinical, translational as well as public health research. Professor Adeeba has used her clinical and academic leadership to also successfully engage in the national and community response to HIV/AIDS to advocate for the adoption of harm reduction measures to tackle the problem of HIV amongst injecting drug users and other key affected population in Malaysia. She is currently Chairman of the Malaysian AIDS Foundation.
At the international level, Professor Adeeba is presently the Co-Chair of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee on HIV, an Executive Committee Member of the International Society of Infectious Diseases and a Governing Council Member of the International AIDS Society and was recently appointed as a member of The Lancet Commission on Drugs and Health. She has played a key role in the establishment and ongoing activities and collaborations of a regional HIV research network initiative; TREAT Asia. She currently is an Adjunct Professor at Tulane University and Adjunct Associate Professor at Yale University, USA.
Her achievements have been recognised through several national and international awards. For her role as a member of the University of Malaya's Nipah Investigative Team she received the Tun Mahathir Science and the Merdeka Awards in 2007 & 2008 respectively. She was honoured at the Advance Australia Awards as the first recipient of the Advance Global Award in the category of Alumni in 2012 and received the Australian Education Achievement Award in the same year. She was recently named one of the Top 20 most influential Muslim women scientists by Muslim-Science.Com and has been featured in both The Lancet and Science. In April of this year she was honoured with a Doctor of Laws honoris causa from her alma mater, Monash University.
Job Titles:
- Independent Member for Sydney
Alex Greenwich MP is the Independent Member for Sydney in the New South Wales Parliament. He was elected in 2012 with the support of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore. He is committed to working towards a liveable, sustainable, and progressive Sydney for all. Alex was the co-chair of the successful YES campaign that delivered marriage equality in 2017, a movement he helped lead for over a decade.
Angelo Pricolo has been running his pharmacy in Brunswick, Victoria (at times a 24 hour a day business) for over 20 years. He was involved in the first trial in Australia to use methadone as a treatment for opioid addiction for juveniles in detention, which has since grown to every facility in the country.
In 2008 he produced his first documentary about addiction, Fighting the Dragon with Luck, that has screened around the world and that year he was named Australian Pharmacist of the Year by the Pharmaceutical Society. He is a past National Councillor with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and inaugural member of NWMPHN Clinical Council.
As the Executive Director of the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), I am delighted to be a Harm Reduction Advocate supporting the work of Harm Reduction Australia in calling for increasing investment in harm reduction interventions and opposing the criminalisation and incarceration of people who use drugs, and disproportionate penalties for drug offences in particular the death penalty. IDPC is a global network of over 130 civil society organisations advocating for national and international drug policies that are grounded in the principles of human rights and human security, social inclusion, public health, development and civil society engagement.
I am delighted to act with your organisation to promote harm reduction as the guiding principle of the development of policy, programs and funding by government.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Executive Director
Annie Madden is the Executive Director of Harm Reduction Australia, which is a part time role she holds alongside a part time role as a Project Lead with the International Network of People Who Use Drugs (INPUD). Annie has provided technical expertise to UNODC, WHO, UNAIDS and has been a member of Australian Government delegations to the UN General Assembly.
Until April 2016, Annie was CEO of the Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL) CEO of the NSW Users & AIDS Association (NUAA) from 1994 to 2000. She recently completed a PhD at the University of New South Wales in Sydney into ‘Drug User Representation in High Level Policy Contexts'. In 2019, Annie was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for her decades of work promoting the health and human rights of people who use drugs globally.
Job Titles:
- Head of the Sexual Health Program at the Kirby Institute
Professor Basil Donovan is the Head of the Sexual Health Program at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Australia, in Sydney. He also practises at the Sydney Sexual Health Centre, working with vulnerable populations since 1979. His research and policy interests include clinical, laboratory, and public health aspects of HIV and STIs; and priority populations such as gay men, youth, sex workers, Aboriginal people, prisoners and travellers. He is on the Board of Directors (President 2013-2015) of the International Society for STD Research.
Bee Mohamed was the inaugural Chief Executive Officer (2014-2019) of ScriptWise, a not for profit organisation dedicated to prevent the harms associated with prescription medication dependency and/or overdose.
It is safe to say that Bee has not only contributed to advocating for better policies in addressing the issue of prescription medication overdose in Australia during her time at ScriptWise, but also placed this issue on the national health agenda, alongside families and individuals who have been personally affected.
She has worked in both the public and community sector for six years, and holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Politics and Psychology) and a Master in Social Science (International Development). More recently she was the Stakeholder and Patient Advocacy Manager for Canopy Growth Corporation (ANZ), one of the world's largest cannabis companies. She is passionate to work towards better drug policy reforms and effective drug education in Australia.
Bernie Sanders has a better idea. The independent Vermont senator and 2016 Democratic presidential contender on Wednesday announced a petition calling on Congress to "end the failed war on drugs." "The criminal justice system is not the answer to drug abuse. Addiction is a health problem and we should start treating it that way," Sanders wrote. […]
Bill Bush has been distressed that in contrast to the harms associated with particular drugs, those attributable to drug policy have been largely overlooked. The evidence is there that drug policy itself not only stimulates the drug trade, but is implicated in Australia's most intractable and serious social problems. Bill looks forward to the prospect of Harm Reduction Australia successfully promoting better drug policies that, in addition to alleviating the plight of drug users and their families, will make so many other things better and save the taxpayers megabucks.
Bill grew up on a farm on the fringes of Melbourne. He began his education at Lower Plenty State School, which was then a little single room country school. He studied law at Monash University and subsequently international law at Cambridge University. After Monash, he worked as a solicitor in Melbourne before spending 2 1/2 years as an Australian volunteer abroad in Malaysia. He returned home and joined the legal area of the Department of Foreign Affairs where for nine years he headed the treaties section, followed by the Antarctic section. For some years while in Foreign Affairs he regularly volunteered overnight at Arcadia Detox Centre when it was located at Russell. He has written extensively on Antarctic international law and policy and, since joining Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform soon after its establishment in 1995, he has prepared innumerable submissions on drug policy for that organisation. He is a regular volunteer on the Family Drug Support telephone line.
Robert ‘Bob' Debus was born in Sydney and educated at The University of Sydney. Before serving two terms in the New South Wales parliament (1981/88 and 1995/2007), he worked as a solicitor, publisher and ABC radio broadcaster, producing Radio National programs including the first editions of the program Background Briefing. He was National Director of The Australian Freedom from Hunger Campaign (1988/1994) and worked to achieve an amalgamation with Community Aid Abroad now known as Oxfam Australia. He entered the Federal Parliament for a term in 2007.
In the period 1995 to 2007 he held many portfolios including Minister for Corrective Services (1995/2001), Minister for Emergency Services (1995/2003), Minister for Environment (1999/2007), Minister for Arts (2005/2007) and Attorney General (2000/2007). In the Federal Parliament he held the position of Minister for Home Affairs.
Bob Debus has a life-long concern about justice for Indigenous people. In the early 1970s he was among a group of activists who supported Professor Hal Wootton in the establishment of the original Redfern Aboriginal Legal Service.
As Minister for Corrective Services he introduced wide ranging improvements to rehabilitation services of benefit to Aboriginal inmates and opened Yeta Dinnakal, the successful low security institution at Brewarrina focussed on the restoration of pride in culture.
As Attorney General he significantly strengthened Aboriginal justice initiatives, establishing Australia's first network of circle sentencing courts and a network of Aboriginal community justice groups. He established the NSW Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce, which in turn produced a path finding report, Breaking The Silence (2006).
As Minister for Environment he implemented established legislation to vest ownership and management of national parks in traditional owners, notably handing back Biamanga and Gulaga National Parks on the NSW South Coast, and the Worimi Conservation Lands at Stockton Bight. Australia's first Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA), signed with the Bundjalung people, created Arakwal National Park, Byron Bay.
In 2009, as Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, he initiated the work of the parliamentary enquiry into Aboriginal youth in the justice system published in 2011 under the title Doing Time - Time for Doing.
Job Titles:
- Founding Members of Families
Marion McConnell and her late husband Brian are the founding members of Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform which commenced in 1995.
Marion is very pleased that this new initiative will bring together like minded individuals and organisations who will pool their expertise and understanding to bring more just, evidence based and health focussed policies to benefit drug users, families and the community. More can be achieved by pooling endeavours rather than struggling independently; the sum of the parts will be greater than individual efforts. Congratulations to those who have made the effort to establish Harm Reduction Australia (HRA).
Marion and Brian McConnell became involved with illegal drug issues following the death of their son to a heroin overdose in 1992. FFDLR is committed to raising awareness of drug issues, promoting evidence based drug policies and encouraging community leaders to search for better drug policies. It firmly believes that drug prohibition is a failed policy and alternatives that cause less harm need to be identified and implemented.
In 2001 Marion and Brian were awarded the Centenary Medal for raising awareness of drug related issues through Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform and in 2016 Brian was awarded an Order of Australia medal.
Chloe is the Victorian Project Officer for Family Drug Support Australia (FDS) and is responsible for running support groups, community workshops and the FDS flagship program, ‘Stepping Stones to Success' for families effected by problematic alcohol and drug use.
She has a background in case management for people receiving unemployment benefits, is a Board Member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy Australia and is in her qualifying degree to become a social worker. […]
Job Titles:
- Greens Health Spokeswoman
Greens health spokeswoman Colleen Hartland said a government-backed testing regime would be able to issue public alerts about dangerous drugs that could save lives. The push for drug testing comes after a bad batch of ecstasy was blamed for up to 20 overdoses around Chapel Street over the weekend.
Job Titles:
- Director of the International Centre
Damon Barrett, director of the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy, points out that the Integrated Strategy emphasizes policing, rather than public health, and doesn't seem any different from the status quo approach to drugs in general. The strategy also seems to mirror President Donald Trump's Global Call to Action on the World Drug Problem, a document co-signed in September by 129 UN member states, that was seen as a call to revamp the global War on Drugs. […]
Job Titles:
- Veteran Maryland Delegate
Veteran Maryland Delegate Dan Morhaim (D-Baltimore County) has just introduced a package of bills that would begin to move the state's posture toward drug use from prohibition to public health and harm reduction.
Daniel Andrews has change of heart on Richmond safe injecting room trial because current drug policy ‘not working'
"There can be no rehabilitation if you are dead. If you are lying in a laneway in a gutter with a syringe that you got through the needle and syringe exchange program just here, there can be no pathway to treatment for you," Mr Andrews said. […]
Job Titles:
- Penington Institute 's Acting CEO
David Grant, the Penington Institute's acting CEO says the survey's findings further highlight Australia's existing "war on drugs" approach to addiction isn't working. "We need to treat drug use and addiction for what it is - a serious community health issue with widespread implications for our society," he said.
David Gunn, MD, CCFP, FCFP, FRACGP, is a Canadian doctor who moved with his family to the Northern Rivers, NSW in 2017. He currently works in Lismore, as a GP with a special interest in paediatrics, mental health, sports medicine, addictions medicine, chronic pain and the medical use of cannabinoids. He is involved in teaching medical students, and provides education to GPs about medical cannabis. […]
Job Titles:
- Lead of Drive Change, an Organization Auspiced by HRA to Lobby for Change to the Drug Driving Laws for Prescribed Medicinal Cannabis Patients
David Heilpern, Lead of Drive Change, an organization auspiced by HRA to lobby for change to the drug driving laws for prescribed medicinal cannabis patients
David Heilpern was appointed as a Magistrate in 1998, and was at the time the youngest magistrate in Australia. He ‘retired' in May 2020. He sat in the criminal, mining, family, industrial, coronial and children's jurisdictions of the Local Court, and was the Senior Civil Magistrate for five years. During his time on the bench, David was the principal educator for new magistrates throughout Australia and the Pacific and made several important reported decisions on criminal, environmental and evidence law. […]
As a Harm Reduction Advocate I am delighted to be part of HRA's initiative to raise the salience of drug harm reduction in Australia and abroad. Australia's achievements in harm reduction are commendable. Unfortunately, the strong community support for harm reduction (demonstrated in population surveys) is not adequately matched by the policies, funding priorities and other actions of governments. […]
David Stanley is a public health communications practitioner. David has been involved in more than 110 international, bilateral, national and state public health programs. David is published in policy, program and educational texts - all relating to public health information and education programs. In 1984 David founded Convenience Advertising and developed a narrowcasting communication solution with a strong focus on development and implementation of public and preventative health communication programs. […]
As Ombudsman Deborah Glass noted in a September 2015 report, while the public is understandably horrified by violent crime, the evidence does not show pouring funds into the correctional system is making us any safe.
Job Titles:
- Fellow in Human Security at LaTrobe University
Dennis Altman, a Professorial Fellow in Human Security at LaTrobe University, is the author of thirteen books, since Homosexual: Oppression & Liberation was first published in 1972.
In 2006, The Bulletin listed Dennis Altman as one of the 100 most influential Australians ever, and he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2008. […]
Dorota is the Executive Officer at Harm Reduction Australia. She has worked in a number of policy positions across the Australian public service and has had extensive experience in research and policy development relating to drugs and law-enforcement. Dorota also holds a Doctorate in Politics. […]
Job Titles:
- Physician
- Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation President
- Expert
- President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation
Dr Alex Wodak is a physician who was Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service, St.
Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation president Dr Alex Wodak said additional police resources at music festival were doing more harm than good. "There were 120 police and 20 detectives at Defqon.1," Dr Wodak said. "We have to recognise that relying heavily on law enforcement has been incredibly unsuccessful. "It is irresponsible of governments not to consider pill testing.
Dr Wodak, who was director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney for 30 years, discussed the effect of cracking down on the supply of only some drugs. "We're dealing with a political problem, not a public health problem." He called for heroin testing to be made available in clinics in "Dubbo, Wilcannia, Grafton" and around Australia so people from rural and remote areas didn't have to travel hours to Sydney to see if their heroin was laced with fentanyl.
Wodak, president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, said he was "stunned" by the decision to "strip people with alcohol and drug problems of income support payments". For many people who use drugs, or are aware of the reality outside of the dominant narrative, this policy proposal is hardly shocking.
Job Titles:
- Appointed CEO of the Australian Injecting
Dr Angella Duvnjak has been appointed CEO of the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL). […]
Dr Bronwyn Hudson, MBBS (Hons), DCH, MLLR, BCom (Hons), is a Doctor in the Northern Rivers of NSW. Based in Bangalow, she holds positions at Lismore Base Hospital, The Tweed Hospital and Byron Central Hospital. Dr Hudson also runs a drug and alcohol clinic in Bangalow. Dr Hudson is Chair of the Byron Shire Medical Council, a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and an Advanced Trainee with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Chapter of Addiction Medicine. […]
Job Titles:
- Physician
- Canberra Doctor
- Emergency Department Doctor
- Specialist
- STA - SAFE Spokesman
I am delighted to lend my support Harm Reduction Australia, having to remind myself that in Australia in the 21 st Century, we still have to push for Harm Reduction to hold the place of pre-eminence that it should, in any modern National Drugs Policy. As a simple emergency physician, I see those who object to harm reduction in the same light as those who object to immunizations, blood transfusions, or gravity- scientifically without foundation, & forwarding personal opinions that should never be let within several kilometres of being able to influence national policy. […]
Canberra doctor David Caldicott will fly up to Darwin and test pills for revellers at BASSINTHEGRASS free of charge, if the NT Government lets him. Dr Caldicott's organisation, Pill Testing Australia, is offering its pilot pill testing program to any Australian jurisdiction keen to take up the offer.
Dr David Caldicott told PEDESTRIAN.TV that punters were distressed by the number of uniformed police officers and sniffer dogs attending to the event's main thoroughfare over the weekend. There was "clear fear in the faces of people not involved" with the sniffer dogs, Dr Caldicott said, adding he was "very attuned" to the discomfort of punters entering the festival grounds. […]
‘I don't want another child to die': Shattered mother of girl, 19, killed by festival drug overdose holds back tears as she campaigns for pill testing at Splendour In The Grass
Dr David Caldicott, an emergency physician with a special interest in toxicology who co-authored the PTA report, told newsGP he was extremely pleased with the findings. He believes a key value of pill testing lies in the opportunity it provides for face-to-face education. ‘I think it provides more evidence that the process of pill testing does what it claims to do, in that we can identify new drugs and persuade young people not to take them at music festivals,' Dr Caldicott said. […]
Dr David Caldicott, an emergency medicine specialist, said the increase in arrests and seizures related to drugs like heroin and hallucinogens did not mirror trends seen in hospitals. He said drugs policy in Australia had three key pillars - reducing supply, reducing demand and reducing harm. While it was important to reduce supply, two-thirds of the money spent on drugs policy in Australia was dedicated to policing.
Emergency department doctor David Caldicott, who has been pushing for a drug testing trial in the ACT, said it was another example of how testing of drugs at the point of consumption could save lives. He warned while the best way to avoid harm was to avoid drugs, opioid addicts faced the most risk.
Dr David Caldicott, the clinical lead at the ANU's Australian Medicinal Cannabis Observatory, told The RiotACT that a bill like Pettersson's could limit the drug's availability to underage consumers and undermine the illicit drug market in the ACT. "From a public health perspective, there are merits to an argument of a regulated market," Caldicott said. […]
STA-SAFE spokesman Dr David Caldicott said while it was a disappointing outcome, he understood the ACT government was still interested in future trials, and hoped it could also consider other off-site testing options, not necessarily linked to specific festivals.
Dr David Caldicott is an emergency room doctor in Canberra who has been campaigning for pill testing and harm reduction in Australia more than a decade. Here he gives his account of how the much-lauded pill testing pilot at Canberra's Spilt Milk music festival got cancelled. […]
Job Titles:
- Specialist at Monash Health
Dr David Jacka was appointed Addiction Medicine Specialist at Monash Health in early 2013. He has worked in the area of public health for many years and in Alcohol and Illicit Drug misuse and Harm Reduction since 1993. Between 2006 and 2012 he worked with the World Health Organization as a drug treatment specialist and advisor on HIV prevention programming for IDU and other risk groups in Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia and Viet Nam. […]
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the RACGP Addiction Medicine Specific Interests
Dr Hester Wilson, Chair of the RACGP Addiction Medicine Specific Interests network, told newsGP she is not surprised by the finding that so many Australians support pill testing. ‘Because it makes sense,' she said. ‘It's sensible and we know that pill testing actually assists people to make safer choices.' Dr Wilson says pill testing plays an important role in harm minimisation. […]
Job Titles:
- Position of Medical Director at the Uniting Medically Supervised Injecting Centre
Dr Marianne Jauncey was appointed to the position of Medical Director at the Uniting Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in August 2008. […]
Senior research fellow Dr Monica Barrett from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre says the current government attitude of ‘just say no' isn't working. "If pure MDMA with known dosage were available for recreational purposes, the need for a comprehensive monitoring system for novel drugs and emerging drug trends would be less urgent and it is likely that most people who use these drugs would choose the known and pure option," she wrote for the centre's submission for the inquest, according to the Daily Telegraph.
I am a consultant physician in private practice in Sydney. I have recognised the futility of the War on drugs for many years and have been writing to politicians and media commentators to promote the safe supply and quality control of recreational drugs. If this could be achieved, it would inevitably reduce crime and gain valuable income through taxation, money that could then be spent on education and drug rehabilitation. […]
Job Titles:
- Addiction Expert
- Edith Cowan University Psychologist
- Edith Cowan University Researcher
Edith Cowan University psychologist Stephen Bright told the inquiry pill testing offered a way to counsel young people about illicit drug use. "The evidence we have is pill testing doesn't give the green light or normalise drug use," he said. "With one in 10 people having already used ecstasy, drug use is already normalised."
Addiction expert Dr Stephen Bright told The New Daily "it's absolutely probable" that Newstart and Youth Allowance recipients using any of the five targeted drugs would move on other substances that are undetectable by the test. "The drugs people move to as a way of evading drug testing are often significantly more harmful than the drugs they're testing for," Dr Bright, senior lecturer at Edith Cowan University, said.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Professor
Associate Professor Ted Wilkes is a Nyungar man from Western Australia. He is Associate Professor of Aboriginal Research Programs at the National Drug Research Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University. Previously Professor Wilkes worked as the CEO of the Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service (DYHS), and as Associate Professor, Centre for Developmental Health, at the Telethon Institute of Child Health (TICHR). Professor Wilkes has dedicated his life to fighting for better quality of life for Indigenous Australians and joined the Aboriginal team at NDRI to enhance the use of Aboriginal Research and information. Professor Wilkes has engaged at many forums and committees at the state, national, and international level, and is involved in many research initiatives dealing with alcohol and drugs in Indigenous Australia. He is a member of the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drugs ANACAD.
Eddie Lloyd is a Councillor on Lismore City Council and Chair of Council's Social Justice and Crime Prevention Committee. She also sits on the Aboriginal Advisory Group. Eddie is also a criminal lawyer and has been practicing criminal law since 2011.
After running her own private practice she then became employed as a Trial Advocate for the Aboriginal Legal Service. […]
Job Titles:
- State Department Spokeswoman
Elizabeth Trudeau, a State Department spokeswoman, said Monday that the United States was "concerned." "We believe in rule of law. We believe in due process. We believe in respect for universal human rights," she told reporters.
VCOSS CEO Emma King told Pro Bono News "nobody with heart" could support the policy. "We applaud the Victorian Government refusal to play the Commonwealth's cruel game," King said. "Drug testing and then punishing vulnerable job seekers will neither find them a job nor help them get off drugs.
President Emmanuel Macron has taken steps to reform drug laws amid concerns that France has seen a continuous rise in drug use despite having some of the strictest narcotics laws in Europe. But is the country ready for a radical new approach?
Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced that there would be a preliminary examination on extrajudicial killings in the context of police anti-drug operations. This is an important step forward for the many victims, advocates and international supporters who argue that justice is not possible within the Philippines when the highest levels of government have promised to protect the police from repercussions.
Former Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour and businessman and philanthropist Sir Richard Branson-all members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy-have written an open letter to President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, originally published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Job Titles:
- Editor in Chief of the British Medical Journal
Job Titles:
- Member of the Victorian Parliament
Fiona Patten is a highly effective member of the Victorian Parliament. She was elected in 2014 as a Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for the Northern Metropolitan region and re-elected in 2018. She is one of a number of crossbenchers who hold the balance of power in Victoria's Upper House. […]
Job Titles:
- Member of the Upper House of Victoria
Fiona Patton, a member of the Upper House of Victoria parliament, said there was no serious organization that opposed safe injecting rooms. "Anyone with any common sense who has been there on the streets will see it is not working and people are dying," Patton said. […]
Superintendent Frank Hansen APM commenced his career in the NSW Police Force in1970. At the time of his retirement at the end of 2010 he held the position of Local Area Commander, Rosehill.
Following 15 years in drug law enforcement Superintendent Hansen was promoted to Superintendent in 1994. He then occupied various positions including Local Area Commander, Cabramatta for 2 years (2001/2); and Commander, Drug and Alcohol Coordination, State Crime Command (8 years) before his last position on retirement. […]
Garth Popple is the Executive Director, We Help Ourselves (WHOS) and Director of WHOS International. He currently holds the following honorary positions: Deputy Chair (ex officio past President) Australasian Therapeutic Communities Association (ATCA); and recently Executive Member of the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) for the past 13 years; a recent Past President - International Federation of NGOs. […]
Good public policy requires good values and respect for the evidence. Today this principle is under challenge from fundamentalism and populism and needs strong advocacy in the community generally and within the corridors of power.
In the field of drug policy, harm reduction has been shown to be effective and enabling for all concerned - the drug users themselves, health workers and the wider community.
Job Titles:
- Drug Foundation National Policy Manager
Gino Vambuca, the president of Harm Reduction Australia, said the federal government should do "something concrete" and propose funding for a pill-testing initiative through the ministerial drug and alcohol forum, which brings together state and territory justice ministers.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- President
- Principal
- Harm Minimisation Australia President
- HRA President
- Pill Testing Australia Co - Founder
- President of Drug Safety Organisation
Gino Vumbaca, president of drug safety organisation Harm Reduction Australia, said his website receives "at least two to three emails a day" from people who want to safely test the pills that they or their children have.
Gino Vumbaca, President of Harm Reduction Australia and Pill Testing Australia, questioned why strip searching has to continue in the first place. "I think what's fundamentally missing from this report is an understanding of the impact of strip searching people, and young people at that"
Gino Vumbaca is the Principal of 3V Consulting Services.
Mr Vumbaca has extensive experience in the HIV/ AIDS and drug and alcohol fields both in Australia and internationally. He is a Churchill Fellow, has completed a Social Work degree and a Master of Business Administration at the University of Sydney and is a qualified Company Director. […]
Gino Vumbaca is president of Harm Reduction Australia. He and his team are behind the trial of the new facility which runs tests on drugs to make sure they're safe for the user to take. He says trials at music festivals in recent years have undoubtedly saved lives.
Pill Testing Australia co-founder Gino Vumbaca said he would provide an explanation on how pill-testing services operated and provide evidence to support a trial in Tasmania. "For many, using pill testing services will be the first opportunity for them to talk to a health professional about their drug use and in some cases will lead to them deciding not to consume the drug or moderate their behavior to reduce the likelihood of harm," he said.
HRA president, Gino Vumbaca, said the gulf between expert and public opinion showed the government and media were not properly communicating the complexities of the issue. "[Drug testing] is counter-productive, and that's what you often find, when you talk to people who actually work in this area with knowledge of the issues," he told Guardian Australia.
Gloria Lai leads on the Asia regional programme for the International Drug Policy Consortium secretariat as the Regional Director - Asia, based in Bangkok, Thailand. Prior to this role, she worked as a senior policy advisor in the Illicit Drugs Section, Australian Government Attorney-General's Department and the Law Enforcement Strategy Division, Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, and as a lawyer for the Australian Government. […]
Job Titles:
- Australian Lawyers Alliance Spokesperson
Job Titles:
- Director of Drug
- Director of Drug Policy Australia
Greg Chipp, Director of Drug policy Australia argues that "criminalising, persecuting, prosecuting and vilifying" drug users only makes the problems worse. "We need to take control of what is ultimately a health issue not a drug issue," said Mr Chipp. "Criminalising is not helping, it doesn't stop people using and it creates a black market with enormous costs." […]
Greg Chipp is a director of Drug Policy Australia, a newly-established public health NGO primarily concerned with drug policy advocacy and with promoting new legislative approaches to minimise the harms associated with the use of psychoactive substances.
Greg has been actively involved in politics and public policy development for several decades, beginning with his involvement in the Australian Democrats, a political party he helped establish in the 1970's. […]
I fully support Harm Reduction Australia and believe that its formation is much needed and long overdue. I believe Harm Reduction Australia should endorse and promote harm reduction as a policy approach, an area which has been significantly neglected over recent years despite its cost effectiveness and strong evidence base. Harm Reduction Australia is well placed to advocate for programs that seek to reduce the impact of illicit drugs to both individuals and communities. […]
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Global Commission on Drug Policy
- Member of the Global Commission
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has been appointed the chair of the 26-member Global Commission on Drug Policy. Clark succeeds the former President of the Swiss Confederation, Ruth Dreifuss, who has served as chair since 2016. Since its establishment in 2011, the Global Commission has advocated for evidence-informed drug policy. […]
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says people who use drugs are unfairly painted as criminals, and instead wants an evidence-based system based on treatment, social services and safe spaces. Clark is one of several prominent members - including former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and a dozen former heads of state - of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which advocates for less punitive drug laws.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says her new Government is keen to allow more legal pill testing at music festivals. Her comments come after Justice Minister Andrew Little ruled out further liberalisation of drug laws following the preliminary "no" vote on the cannabis referendum.
Job Titles:
- Research Fellow With the Centre for Social Research
Jake is a Research Fellow with the Centre for Social Research in Health (CSRH), UNSW Sydney, where for over 10 years he has worked with people who inject drugs, including those living with hepatitis C or imprisoned.
Jake sits on the editorial board of the International Journal of Drug Policy and the Harm Reduction Journal and works closely with government and community-based organisations engaged in advocacy, health promotion and service provision for people who inject drugs. […]
Jenny Heslop is currently the Manager of HIV, Sexual Health, Viral Hepatitis & Harm Reduction Programs across NSW North Coast. She has worked in these fields for over 31years and was instrumental in the roll out of Harm Reduction/NSP Services in NSW from the late 1980's to current.
Jenny has a range of experience working as a frontline provider, policy analyst, researcher, educator and Manager maintaining her commitment to ensuring all key priority populations receive the same level of health care, access, support and acceptance as any other member of the community. […]
Jill is the CEO of WANDA and has worked in the alcohol and other drug sector for over 20 years, employed in a leadership role at the Western Australian Network of Alcohol and other Drug Agencies (WANADA) since 2000. […]
Job Titles:
- Head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
John Coyne, head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's border protection program, told news.com.au it was crucial police in this country adopted innovative ways to combat the ice crisis because "law enforcement on its own isn't going to solve it". "Chances are in the court system drug users won't get a custodial sentence, but it will give them a drug conviction and that won't allow them to drag themselves out of the [drug] mire. […]
Job Titles:
- Professor at Harvard Medical School
John Halpern, psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School, believes that western cultures have adopted such a stringent attitude out of fear and that, "with the absence of facts, fear may reign."
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive of the Australian Drug Foundation
John Rogerson has been Chief Executive of the Australian Drug Foundation (ADF) since 2008 and has over 20 years' experience in the alcohol and other drugs field. […]
Job Titles:
- Principal of Urban Realists
Julie is the Principal of Urban Realists, a town planning, health and safety consultancy providing advice and support to non-government organisations representing sex workers and people who use drugs illicitly. She provides specialist advice to the NSW sex industry and other stakeholders on various aspects of legislation and local government regulation, health promotion and harm reduction and research needs. […]
In 1986 Professor Dolan along with several others started the first needle and syringe program in Australia, the third in the world. She evaluated the needle and syringe program in the UK for six years. Dr Dolan received her PhD from the University of NSW in Sydney in 1997.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the NZ Needle Exchange Programme
Job Titles:
- Australian Medical Association NSW President
Australian Medical Association NSW president Kean-Seng Lim said evidence from other countries showed there was "good reason to support a trial of pill testing with appropriate evaluation". "Pill testing is not a question of just telling someone a pill is safe or not safe, but using it as an engagement opportunity to provide further advice, education and support," Dr Lim said.
Larry holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in sociology from Griffith University, Qld and has had extensive involvement in the drug and alcohol field. In 1985 he worked in the Queensland methadone program during its expansion under the first national campaign against drug abuse. He then moved into the non-government sector and worked as a counsellor at Logan House in 1987, a Residential Rehabilitation centre in southeast Queensland. […]
Vice President Leni Robredo suggested on Friday that the Philippines look to the example of Portugal, which made the radical decision of decriminalizing drug use in 2001, leading to lower drug-related deaths and declines in drug abuse among its citizens.
Leone Crayden is a hands-on, highly-skilled and solutions-focused Executive with a career demonstrating visionary leadership, and outstanding performance in corporate management across the Health, Community Services and Disability Sector.
She is currently the CEO of The Buttery a not-for-profit, charitable drug and alcohol rehabilitation, addiction and mental health services organisation located near Bangalow in Northern NSW, Australia, where she is leading a period of organisational growth and championing a best-practice ‘Continuum of Care' approach to AOD and mental health treatment. […]
Lisa is passionate about evidence based harm reduction measures. She is concerned about the stigma, barriers to treatment and compromised safety of Australians that results from failure to put pragmatic harm reduction measures in place in policy. Lisa has a background as a veterinarian but has been working in medical affairs in the pharmaceutical industry for the last ten years, for the most part across mental health and opioid dependence portfolios. […]
Job Titles:
- Program Head at the Kirby Institute for Infection
Lisa Maher is a Program Head at the Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity, Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at UNSW Australia, and a NHMRC Senior Research Fellow. […]
Lord mayor Sally Capp has backed a controversial pill-testing trial in Melbourne despite Premier Daniel Andrews reiterating the government's opposition to the proposal. "I do not endorse anyone taking illicit drugs - but in the face of evidence that people are taking these drugs we simply cannot stick our heads in the sand," Cr Capp said. […]
Professor Margaret Hamilton AO - her over forty five years' experience in the alcohol and drug field includes clinical work, education, training, research, publication and policy development.
She was founding Director of Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre (Vic.) 10 yrs; Chair of the Multiple and Complex Needs Panel (Vic) 5 yrs; an Executive member of Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) 16 yrs. […]
Rappler CEO Maria Ressa is due to land in Manila this weekend, when supporters fear she could be arrested, after she and her company were formally indicted on multiple counts of tax evasion this week, charges critics say are politically motivated and designed to silence independent media in the southeast Asian country.
Job Titles:
- Member of St Ninian 's Uniting Church
Mark is a registered health psychologist working in private practice (Sydney) with a focus on applying psychological principles to lifestyle modification.
Mark's work history includes working for many years in the areas of HIV, and the broader area of sexuality - including being the President of the Australian Society of Sex Educators, Researchers and Therapists - in 2001 Mark joined NSW Health and for several years was the manager of the NSW Opioid Treatment Program. […]
He is a long-time advocate for better patient access to medicinal cannabis and drug law reform generally. Mat has a particular interest in military veterans and frontline workers with PTSD who are caught up in the criminal justice system due to their use of medicinal cannabis and appears in such matters pro bono.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Co - Founder
- Ted Noffs Foundation 's CEO
Matt Noffs is the co-founder of the Street Universities and CEO of the Noffs Foundation, Australia's largest drug and alcohol treatment service provider for young people under 25.
Mr Noffs said there were only two perspectives on drug use - those who see the evidence and what the rest of the world is doing and the other group who close their eyes and hope the ice problem goes away without help.
It's undeniable that the ‘war on drugs' has comprehensively failed. It has failed parents, families, young people, and it has failed the taxpayer. We need to change course urgently. If we are serious about saving lives we have to get serious about harm reduction. In order to help drug users, their families and the wider community we need to take drug use out of the shadows and avoid moralistic reactions.
Job Titles:
- New South Wales Opposition Leader
New South Wales Opposition Leader Michael Daley has said that the state Labor party would consider the possibility of testing recreational drugs at music festivals, after the death of 22-year-old Josh Tam following Lost Paradise this week.
Job Titles:
- Amnesty International Campaign Manager
Amnesty International Campaign Manager Michael Hayworth said pressure needs to be put on the United Nations to mount an independent investigation into human rights abuses in the Philippines. "The Australia government along with other governments in the region can send a loud and clear message to President Duterte that this sort of behaviour, these killings are completely unacceptable" he said.
Job Titles:
- CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia
Michael Moore is the CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia and is the Vice President/President Elect of the World Federation of Public Health Associations. Michael is a former Minister of Health and Community Care and was an Independent member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly for four terms from 1989 to 2001. […]
Job Titles:
- Alcohol Services Executive Director
Job Titles:
- UNAIDS Executive Director
Beginning her career in professional photography just 8 years ago, Michelle Grace Hunder already has two separate portrait series in the National Sound and Film Archive of Australia and is considered one of the most revered Australian Music Photographers. She is also a documentary film maker, producing the critically acclaimed Music Documentary "Her Sound, Her Story" as well as host of the weekly hip hop show on Kiss FM "The Scenario". […]
Job Titles:
- AFP Commissioner
- Take Control Spokesperson
Michael John (Mick) Palmer AO, APM is a barrister and 33 year career police officer with extensive experience in police leadership and corporate governance, reform in community, national and international policing and security. He has had an active interest in human rights and illicit drug reform for many years.
Mick joined the Northern Territory Police in 1963 and having progressed through the ranks, was appointed Commissioner of the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services agency in 1988.
Former Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Palmer has slammed the country's "zero tolerance" approach to drugs and has once again thrown his support behind pill testing. Mr Palmer told SBS News on Tuesday it's time to find a "new way of doing business. If we continue to do what we're doing, it's abject nonsense, we're failing with the best intentions in the world," Mr Palmer said."
Former AFP commissioner Mick Palmer is renowned for asserting that Australia can't arrest its way out of the drug problem. And he's not the only ex-top brass turned drug law reformist. There's once NSW police commissioner Ken Moroney, as well as ex-Tasmania police commissioner Jack Johnston. And now, former NSW police commissioner Andrew Scipione has joined their ranks.
Former NT Police Commissioner Mick Palmer AO has welcomed the "courageous decision" by the ACT parliament to pass a bill legalising cannabis possession for personal use. Mr Palmer, who also served as Australian Federal Police Commissioner until 2001, said the laws would "put control into a completely uncontrolled environment". "It's a decision that will improve safety for young Australians who are vulnerable to making decisions to buy things from an unregulated and totally uncontrolled marketplace," he said.
Mick Palmer spent decades locking up drug users, first as a policeman and eventually as the head of the Australian Federal Police. Now, Palmer-along with other law enforcement officers and politicians-is calling for the widespread decriminalization of drugs in Australia in order to turn the tide against a drug enforcement policy that has been shown not to work. […]
Mick Palmer, who served as AFP commissioner from 1994 to 2001, says approaching ice use as social and health problem rather than a law enforcement issue would be more effective in curbing use and supply. "The whole aim of our illicit drug policy at the moment is harm minimisation. We've done nothing to minimise harm over 40 or 50 years, in fact in many ways we aggravate it," he said ahead of a public forum in Brisbane on Wednesday.
If former Chief Minister Kate Carnell had been allowed to finish her proposed six-month trial of a safe-injecting room in Canberra, there would be no need for a second prison in the ACT, according to drug decriminalisation advocate Bill Bush. Mr Bush, a member of Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform, gave evidence today (14 July) to an ACT Parliamentary inquiry into youth mental health.
Job Titles:
- Drugs Council of Tasmania Chief Executive
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Northern Territory AIDS and Hepatitis Council
Ms. Kim Gates is currently the Executive Director of the Northern Territory AIDS and Hepatitis Council (NTAHC).
Kim is originally from Western Australia were she worked in the WA public service in the areas of Housing and Education before moving into the not for profit alcohol and other drug sector. She moved to Darwin in December 2000 to take up a position at the Council for Aboriginal Alcohol Program Services (CAAPS). […]
Neal Blewett has had a varied career as academic, politician and diplomat. Following studies at the universities of Tasmania and Oxford, he taught political science at the universities of Adelaide and Flinders. An opponent of Australian participation in the Vietnam War and an active civil libertarian, he entered Federal Parliament as Labor member for the South Australian seat of Bonython in 1977. […]
A rational approach to the control of drugs requires measures that prioritise harm reduction. We do not presently deal with them in that way. As a minimum, policies must be developed that cease the practice of criminalising the personal possession and use of presently illicit drugs - the criminal law is a totally inappropriate mechanism for addressing the essentially health and social problems that they create.
Job Titles:
- NSW Director of Public Prosecutions
Professor Nick Crofts is an epidemiologist and public health practitioner who has been working in the fields of HIV/AIDS, illicit drugs, harm reduction and law enforcement for over 30 years. His major epidemiological work has been on the control of HIV and hepatitis C among injecting drug users in Australia (for which he received an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship) and globally, including almost every country in Asia, for which he received the International Rolleston Award from the International Harm Reduction Association in 1998. […]
Niki Parry has studied social sciences and has worked in the community and health sectors for approximately 15 years now, with most of this time dedicated to AOD health organisations including Hepatitis NSW as well as the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre. Niki is currently employed by QuIHN (the QLD Injectors Health Network) where she is the Coordinator of QPAMS- the QLD Pharmacotherapy Advocacy and Mediation Service. […]
Job Titles:
- President
- President of OFAP ( Organization
Nuno M. R. Jorge is president of OFAP (Organization of the Families of Asia and the Pacific).
President Jorge, born in Macau, from a traditional Macanese Family, is a chartered architect, Past President 2007-2009 of the Architects Association of Macau, and registered accountant, received his Diploma in Architecture from the Higher School of Fine Arts in Lisbon, where he also studied Business Organization and Management, with major in Marketing, at the Higher Institute of New Professions. […]
Dr. Denning has developed specialties in differential diagnosis, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy with seriously disturbed patients, HIV, and substance use disorders. She is one of the primary developers of Harm Reduction treatments. She has written several articles as well as a book for the general public (Over the Influence: The Harm Reduction Guide for Managing Drugs and Alcohol. […]
Paul Haber is a physician specializing in addiction medicine and gastroenterology / hepatology. He is Clinical Director for Drug Health Services for the Sydney Local Health District and has been a consultant at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital since 1998. […]
Paul Harvey has worked at Hepatitis NSW for almost 25 years; he knows first-hand the importance of BBV harm reduction and wholly supports the aims of Harm Reduction Australia. He is the Information and Communications Manager at Hepatitis NSW and works primarily in digital communications.
He was the Hep Review magazine editor for 20 years, is the inaugural recipient of the Hepatitis Australia National Hepatitis C Health Promotion Award, and was a past-President of the Hepatitis C Council of NSW. […]
I began writing about drug issues in the late 90s when the Sydney Morning Herald commissioned a number of features that brought me into contact with researchers working in the area of drugs and alcohol, parents trying to cope with their teenagers' experimentation with drugs and with Tony Trimingham who went on to establish Family Drug Support. […]
Penny Hill is a PhD candidate at the Burnet Institute investigating the impact of health service use on opioid overdose among people who inject drugs, and works for the Centre for Research Excellence into Injecting Drug Use (CREIDU) and the National Naloxone Reference Group (NNRG). Penny has a background as a community health worker in harm reduction and needle syringe programs across Melbourne and Sydney, is the founder of Students for Sensible Drug Policy Australia, and is a Board Member of Harm Reduction Victoria, Harm Reduction Australia and is the Oceania Representative to the International Drug Consortium's Members Advisory Council. […]
New Zealand's Associate Health Minister, Peter Dunne, has reiterated the Government's commitment to review drug policy and make sure drug offending is primarily seen as a health matter.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch 's Asia
Phillip Boulten is a senior criminal law practitioner. He appears regularly in courts at all levels of the criminal justice system. He has appeared in many high profile trials and appeals. He has a special interest in the law relating to national security, having appeared in a number of important cases involving national security issues and having represented numerous clients who have been the subject of ASIO investigations and interrogations.
Outspoken UK drug expert David Nutt argues for regulated access to any drug less harmful than alcohol, including cannabis and Ecstasy.
Job Titles:
- Head of Infectious Diseases Research - Aboriginal Health at the South Australian Health
A/Prof James Ward is Head of Infectious Diseases Research - Aboriginal Health at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute in Adelaide. He is of the Pitjantjatjara and Nurrunga peoples from central and south Australia. James has extensive experience in sexual health and blood borne virus research, and alcohol and other drug use in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and as such is recognised as Australia's expert in the field of STI and BBV control among these populations. […]
Rebecca has worked in the alcohol and other drug sector for almost 10 years and has been CEO of the Qld Network of Alcohol and other Drug Agencies since 2012. […]
Rev. Crews has been awarded The Rotary Foundation International Award ‘Paul Harris Fellow'. He has been voted Father of the Year and Humanitarian of the Year (1992). In February 1998 Rev. Crews was included in the National Trust's 100 National Living Treasures. In 1999 Rev. Crews was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) for his services to the disadvantaged and his work with homeles s youth.
In 2001 Bill was named Ashfield Citizen of the Y ear for his contribution to the local community. He received the William R. Tresise Fellowship Award from the Australian Lions Foundation in June 2001 - the highest honour the Foundation bestows for humanitarian se rvices. In 2001 Rev. Crews also received an Alumni Award from the University of New South Wales.
Bill actively supports multi-faith dialogue and understanding b etween cultures. He meets regularly with the Dalai Lama and supports the Free Tibet movement in Australia. Rev. Crews appeared as a guest judge alongside his Holiness Dalai Lama on Network T en's Masterchef programme in 2010.
Rev. Crews is a Patron of Australians For Just Refugee Pr ogrammes, and Chairman of Fair Go Australia - an anti-racism project sponsored by the NSW Gover nment through the Department of Community Relations Commission.
Since August 2002 Rev. Crews has broadcast his Sunday Night Crews radio programme on Sydney station 2GB-873AM. The programme is the highest rating Sunday night radio show in the na tion, with an audience share of 17.8% and 102,000 listeners.
In 2006 Bill was awarded the Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award in recognition of his world-class leadership and innovation in social programs.
In 2007 Rev. Crews was named as one of Australia's 100 most influential people by the prestigious Bulletin & Newsweek magazine.
Rev. Crews campaigns tirelessly for poker machine reform, his passion for the issue being driven by the work he has done with gambling addicts whose lives have been shattered by the effects of gambling. In 2011 he was appointed chair of the NSW division of the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce.
In 2012 Rev. Crews founded The Big Picture Film Festival which first screened in February 2013 at Event Cinemas in the heart of Sydney. The festival was extremely successful and plans for the 2014 festival are already well underway.
Bill Crews lives in Sydney and has four children.
It was in 1970 that I first began working with drug addicted people in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia. So, for the past 45 years, I have been working, day after day, with people affected by alcohol and other drugs, both legal and illegal. Also, along with Reverend Ted Noffs, I helped create Life Education Centres. These Centres were our first real attempt at programs designed to hopefully discourage young and other people from using substances that could potentially do them great damage physically, mentally, socially and relationship wise. In the late 1980s, along with Tony Trimmingham, I called for the decriminalization of heroin. I was also involved in the establishment of the injecting room at the Wayside Chapel.
I have buried countless people both young and old from overuse or overdose of drugs, alcohol and other substances.
I know from firsthand experience the tough on drugs policy has failed. In fact, in my opinion, it has actually escalated the whole problem. It has escalated it by driving it underground and by creating a system which criminalizes drug users and encourages black marketeers to continually search for stronger acting drugs which can be sold at an increasingly higher price. My take on the whole "drug and alcohol situation" after all this time is that the only way we can get on top of all of this is by treating the whole problem as a health problem rather than a legal problem. We can do this by decriminalizing drug usage and by creating an environment where a management process for the whole drug outlet system can be established. Thereby we take all illicit monies out of the system and enabling appropriate help to be offered.
Rick Lines is Executive Director of Harm Reduction International.
Rick has been working in HIV and harm reduction services, policy and advocacy since the early 1990s, and is known for his leading work in the areas of HIV in prisons, prison needle/syringe programmes, human rights and the death penalty for drug offences. […]
Opposition senator Risa Hontiveros, who has railed against the drug killings, said the court decision proved that extrajudicial killings under Mr Duterte's crackdown were really being committed by rogue members of the national police force. "This is a light in the darkness," Ms Hontiveros said in a statement. "Despite the gruesome climate of killing and impunity in the country, this verdict sends the message that there is hope and justice.
Robert Richter QC was appointed was admitted to practice as Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1970, was involved in the establishment of the Fitzroy Legal Service and the Aboriginal Legal Service in 1972 and appointed as a Queen's Counsel in 1985.
He has been a member of the Victorian Bar Council 1975-6, 1998-9, Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association of Victoria 1986-89, a part-time Commissioner of the Law Reform Commission of Victoria 1989-1992, President of the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties (Liberty Victoria) 1994-6, was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Victoria University in 2015 and since 2016 has been the Victorian President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation. […]
Job Titles:
- President
- Filipino President
- Inside President
- Philippine President
- Philippines President, Appears to Have Compared Himself to Hitler, Saying He Would Be "Happy to Slaughter" Millions of Drug Addicts in His Bloody War on Crime. [ ]
Job Titles:
- Drug Foundation Boss
- Drug Foundation Executive Director
- Executive Director of the Drug Foundation
- Executive Director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation
Ross Bell is Executive Director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, NZ's leading alcohol and other drug public health NGO. […]
Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said a new approach was needed with Kiwis being some of the biggest meth users in the world. When the issue was tackled only through law enforcement and the criminal justice system, courts got clogged up, Bell said. "If you talk to cops they say you can't arrest your way out of this problem."
Ross Bell, executive director of the Drug Foundation launched a report on what it would look like if New Zealand moved to a "health-approach" to drugs, rather than a criminal. "We've proved ourselves ill-equipped to deal with public health emergencies when it comes to drugs. We've seen it most recently with the dreadful deaths from synthetic cannabinoids," he said today.
Job Titles:
- Drug Association Executive Officer
Job Titles:
- Director of the Aboriginal Drug
Scott Wilson is the Director of the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council (SA) Inc (ADAC). ADAC is the only Indigenous organisation of its kind in Australia, and is based in Adelaide.
Scott's experience in the areas of substance use, misuse and abuse has seen him on nearly every major governmental and non-government committee in Australia over the past 20 years. […]
Senator Chuck Schumer introduced a new bill to regulate marijuana at the federal level. The bill isn't aimed at legalizing the drug but the proposal would decriminalize it. "The time to decriminalize marijuana is now," Sen. Schumer said in a press statement. "The new Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act is about giving states the freedom to be the laboratories that they should be and giving Americans-especially women and minority business owners as well as those convicted of simple possession of marijuana intended for personal use-the opportunity to succeed in today's economy." […]
Job Titles:
- Leader
- Federal Greens Leader
- Federal Leader
- Greens Leader
Richard Di Natale is a former Australian Senator and was leader of the Australian Greens from 2015 to 2020. Prior to entering the Senate, Dr Di Natale was a general practitioner and public health specialist who worked in Aboriginal health in the Northern Territory, on HIV prevention in India and as a drug and alcohol clinician in regional Victoria. […]
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said Premier Andrews needed to "get his head out of the sand" and acknowledge that young people would experiment with drugs. "When Australia was confronted with the HIV epidemic in the '80s, we were one of the first countries on earth to provide injecting drug users with clean needles," Senator Di Natale told reporters on Monday.
Federal Greens leader, Senator Richard Di Natale, has reiterated his calls for Australia to introduce testing of illicit drugs.
ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said the news that majority of the people attending the pill testing tent were teenagers underlines the positive effect of pill testing. "These are people who don't necessarily have a lot of information and pill testing does provide that opportunity to access that information," Mr Rattenbury said. "It
Shane Rattenbury wants pill-testing trialled somewhere other than music festivals
ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury has urged his cabinet colleagues to look at other places pill testing could take place, after the Spilt Milk music festival pulled out of an Australian-first trial. […]
Simon is the CEO of Thorne Harbour Health, formerly the Victorian AIDS Council.
Simon was first introduced to harm reduction, when as a 21 year old, he accidently got a part time job working in the Dandenong Needle Exchange. This experience resulted in a change of career path, that would see him spend the next three decades working in, and managing, alcohol and drug programs and other human services. […]
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson will today declare the war on drugs has failed, urging Australia to return to its pioneering role in drug treatment that began with the medically supervised injecting centre in Sydney's Kings Cross. "We live in a drug-taking world. We cannot change that, and we need to be sensible and pragmatic about how we respond," Sir Richard writes in The Australian today.
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson will today declare the war on drugs has failed, urging Australia to return to its pioneering role in drug treatment that began with the medically supervised injecting centre in Sydney's Kings Cross. The billionaire who founded the Virgin Group will address the Uniting Fair Treatment campaign at Sydney's Town Hall today as the federal government signals it will push harder on an illicit drug crackdown.
Deputy Director Tatyana Guzenkova stated that the HIV crisis in Russia is not an actual epidemic, but rather part of an "information war" against Russia. Her coworker, Igor Beloborodov, blamed condom manufacturers.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Treasurer
- Vice President
- CEO of Family Drug Support
Tony Trimingham wants to see one outcome from his 20 years of drug reform advocacy: that NSW decriminalises small quantities of drugs. Harm Reduction Australia executive director Annie Madden has urged Minns to announce the summit to "get on with the business of saving lives and reducing drug-related harms". […]
Tony Trimingham is CEO of Family Drug Support which he started after receiving many phone calls from families suffering the effects of illicit drugs after he went public about the death of his son Damien from a heroin drug overdose.
He has been a counsellor and group leader for 30 years and these skills have helped him assist many families who suffer the impact on their lives of family members who use alcohol and other drugs. […]
Job Titles:
- NSW Minister Who Should Resign
At a harm minimisation summit at parliament house in August, an exasperated Harm Reduction Australia president Gino Vumbaca revealed that he had written to Grant inviting him to discuss issues of pill testing at music festivals. […]