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Published: 08 July 2024

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• Drug use has been increasing over the past decade. New and more accurate data put the global estimate of people who used a drug in the past year at 292 million (or 5.6 per cent of the population aged 15 to 64) in 2022. This is 20 % more than a decade earlier, partly due to population growth.
• In 2022, cannabis remained the most used drug worldwide, with an estimated 228 million users in the past  year, followed by opioids, with 60 million, amphetamine-type stimulants, with 30 million, and cocaine and “ecstasy”, with 23 million and 20 million, respectively.
• There has been a marked increase in the use of stimulant drugs such as cocaine and “ecstasy” after the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Men make up the large majority of people who use drugs, but women who use drugs face greater harms and more barriers to entering treatment. Although men account for a far larger share of offences related to drug trafficking and use, women tend to have greater involvement with synthetic drugs than with plant-based drugs and once involved they suffer from higher levels of harm than men.
• Use of cannabis among adolescents remains a concern in many regions, with the additional challenge of the practice of vaping that is spreading in North America, at an age when drug use can cause lasting damage to brain development.
• Opioids continue to be the most harmful drug class in terms of drug-related deaths, but in half of the reporting countries, cannabis is the drug that most often leads to drug use disorders.

(For all four Reports – Source: UNODC – World Drug Report 2024)

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Published: 25 June 2024

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Every 'permission model' harnessed by pro-drug actors to further entrench the normalisation of drug use is only ADDING to potential harms. 

The continuing misuse of important #harmreduction strategies that tacitly endorse and enable #drug use is an active undermining of the first and highest priority pillars of the National Drug Strategy – Demand and Supply Reduction. 

It is staggeringly hypocritical to state that we must prioritise the reduction of both demand and supply of drug use, then release yet another publicly endorsed vehicle to spit in the face of both these vital prevention vehicles. #DemandReduction #preventdontnpromote drug use. 

Also see

• What Every Australia Needs to Know About Ecstasy Deaths and 
• Pill Testing Goes Against National Drug Strategy  - Interview and 
• Scoring the Pill Test

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Published: 25 June 2024

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A Prescription Model for Vapes: The way we ‘do’ medicines policy in Australia 

Abstract: On 2 May 2023, the Australian Federal Government announced a suite of reforms aimed at ensuring the effectiveness of the prescription model of regulation of vaping (or e-cigarette) products in Australia. These reforms are intended to protect Australians, particularly young people, from the harms of vaping and nicotine dependence. The ensuing public debate on the issue has often created the impression that the options under consideration are to either retain ‘recently introduced’ prescription regulation or to ‘revert to’ a retail supply approach. However, the sale of nicotine vapes by retailers such as tobacconists and convenience stores has never been lawful in Australia. The reforms do not seek to change the way nicotine vaping products are regulated, but rather to ensure that the existing prescription model can be effectively enforced and can function as originally intended. This paper describes the historical context and rationale for strengthening prescription regulation of vapes in this country.

Key points: 

• Reforms before the Australian Parliament aim to strengthen the prescription model for the regulation of vaping (e-cigarette) products 
• The prescription model has been in place for some years but has not operated effectively because of an anomalous regulatory distinction between nicotine and non-nicotine vaping products, which has hindered its enforcement 
• A failure to enact these reforms would not legalise the retail supply of vapes in Australia but would delay measures to improve enforcement efforts 
• Successful implementation of the prescription model for nicotine vapes could help to prevent future nicotine addiction, facilitate the effective use of vaping products and prevent illegal sales, setting a global benchmark for regulating vaping products to protect public health

Conclusion: Vaping products in Australia have not been singled out for particularly harsh regulatory treatment. Rather they have been regulated in the same way as every other therapeutic good in Australia. Australia’s prescription model has not failed because ‘prohibition doesn’t work’; rather the prescription model has not had the opportunity to operate effectively because the anomalous regulatory distinction between nicotine and non-nicotine vaping products has prevented it from being properly enforced. The current reforms are about ensuring the prescription model works as intended. Failure to support the current Bill would not legalise the retail supply of vapes in Australia. However, failing to pass the Bill would delay the introduction of measures that could otherwise start within a matter of weeks to improve enforcement efforts across all levels of government.

(Source: Public Health Research & Practice (A Journal of Sax Institute)

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Published: 25 June 2024

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An advisory panel of the FDA voted to reject the use of MDMA to help treat patients with PTSD on Tuesday, citing concerns that available evidence does not show the drug is effective or that its benefits outweigh the risks. While the vote does not dictate the FDA’s ultimate decision, the agency tends to heavily consider the advice it receives from its expert panels.

(Source:  WRD News)