Category Archives: Illegal drugs

Scott Morrison says he is ‘puzzled’ by opposition to welfare drug testing

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PM defends drug testing proposal, which is struggling to attract support in parliament

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, says he is “puzzled” by the widespread opposition to the idea of drug testing welfare recipients, as the government struggles to win over Senate support for the plan.

Saying he believed that drug testing those on Newstart and Youth Allowance could help people address substance abuse problems and get into the workforce, Morrison emphasised the proposal was a trial.

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Two Australians arrested in Bali reportedly linked to cocaine trafficking

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Charges yet to be laid against former Melbourne nightclub promoters William Cabantog and David Van Iersel

Two former Melbourne nightclub promoters are being held in Bali amid reported links to a cocaine-trafficking operation.

The men have been named in media outlets as William Cabantog, 35, and David Van Iersel, 38.

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Festival deaths inquest: police pushed to release protocols after ‘unconscionable’ strip searches

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Counsel assisting coroner says public deserves to know ‘under what circumstances are police entitled to strip search patrons’

The New South Wales coroner will push for the state’s police force to release its strip search protocols as part of an inquest into drug-related deaths at music festivals.

Counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer told the court on Thursday that the inquest had yet to receive “police protocols” on when strip searches could be carried out in the state, but that she intended to pursue the matter .

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Pacific nations are ‘victims’ of Australian and New Zealand appetite for drugs, experts say

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Australia urged to take action to stop cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking from Latin America through Pacific region

Australia and New Zealand have been urged to do more to fight the drug trade across the Pacific and take responsibility for the fact that the demand for drugs in cities such as Sydney and Auckland was having devastating effects on small Pacific nations.

Drug traffickers transport cocaine and methamphetamines through Pacific nations from the US and Latin America to Australia and New Zealand, where drug users pay the highest price per gram (about A$300 or £180) for cocaine and have the highest cocaine use per capita in the world.

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Festivalgoers hospitalised in NSW and Victoria after suspected drug-taking

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Eleven people left ill in Sydney and six near Ballarat after Australia Day long weekend music festivals

A teenage boy has been found with almost 600 capsules and $2,000 cash at a Sydney music festival where several people left critically ill due to drug use.

Six young men aged under 25 left the Hardcore Till I Die festival at Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday in critical or serious conditions. All were either stable or discharged from hospital by Sunday.

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