News From The Drug War Front Podcast.
News From The Drug War Front is a weekly radio show that seeks to explore the failure of the "The War on Drugs", or more appropriately the "The War On People Who Take Drugs". Prohibition has countless negative effects on society has a whole and unfairly damages individuals use drugs already marginalized. NFTDWF aims to change peoples minds by informing and educating listeners about the failure and moral bankruptcy that is the faled experiment, "The War On Drugs". NFTDWF is aired on Tuesdays 10:30am-Noon 2XX 98.3 FM and is presented by the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy (CAHMA).
Episodes
Friday Jul 14, 2023
News From The Drug War Front -Podcast- 11th July 2023
Friday Jul 14, 2023
Friday Jul 14, 2023
As usual, we will provide a summary of the myriad programs and services currently being run by CAHMA and The Connection. On October 28 new ACT drug laws will come into effect; these will be discussed.Ahead of World Hepatitis Day, July 28th, we have a special guest to talk about relevant issues, the Executive Officer of Hepatitis ACT.In overseas news, the Scottish government’s proposal to decriminalise possession of all drugs for personal use was almost instantly blocked by the Tory Government in the UK, which declared it had “no plans” to soften drug laws.The show is co-presented by Geoff Ward and Marion Watson
Monday Jul 10, 2023
Wednesday Jun 14, 2023
Friday Jun 09, 2023
News From The Drug War Front -Podcast- 6th June 2023
Friday Jun 09, 2023
Friday Jun 09, 2023
We have a wide array of stories to discuss. Today a man was caught at Sydney Airport with 3kg of methamphetamine in his suitcase.
Private clinics in Queensland have been arguing that up to a dozen opioid assisted treatment (OST) clinics could close due to federal government reforms of a system which for many years has varied widely in different states and territories.
Switzerland’s capital city, Berne, has signalled its intent to conduct a scientific pilot trial of controlled cocaine sales. This is interesting given the HAT (Heroin Assisted Treatment) pilot clinics opened in 1994.
From Brazil comes a story of an “ominous inquiry into a disproven ‘crack epidemic’”.
From the USA we will discuss “If Narcan Isn’t Working, Give More”.
We have some other overseas stories to cover if we have time.
The show is co-presented by Geoff Ward and Marion Watson.
Wednesday May 31, 2023
News From The Drug War Front -Podcast- 30th May 2023
Wednesday May 31, 2023
Wednesday May 31, 2023
Focusing on reconciliation.
Wednesday May 24, 2023
News From The Drug War Front _Podcast- 23rd May 2023
Wednesday May 24, 2023
Wednesday May 24, 2023
BC recorded 206 deaths in April from “unregulated” drugs
Post from British Columbia, Canada;
Over 800 people have died so far in 2023 from what the province is now calling “unregulated” drugs, with 206 deaths recorded in April. More:
Preliminary data from the BC Coroners Service shows that communities throughout the province continue to be devastated by deaths due to unregulated drugs, with 814 lives lost in the first four months of 2023.
As has been the case throughout the crisis, the illicit drug supply remains highly volatile, challenging people’s best efforts to use safely and challenging life-saving responses. Fentanyl is present in about eight of every 10 deaths, almost always in combination with other substances. April 2023’s reporting also notes an increase in the presence of benzodiazepines, which is largely the result of enhancements to benzodiazepine testing by the Provincial Toxicology Centre.
“Illicit fentanyl continues to be the main and most lethal driver of B.C.’s drug-toxicity public-health emergency, having been detected in 86% of deaths in 2022 and 79% of deaths in 2023,” said Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner. “Cocaine, methamphetamines and/or benzodiazapines are also often present. This drug poisoning crisis is the direct result of an unregulated drug market. Members of our communities are dying because non-prescribed, non-pharmaceutical fentanyl is poisoning them on an unprecedented scale.”
B.C.’s representative for children and youth, Jennifer Charlesworth, said there is no evidence that diverted safer supply has been a factor in the toxic drug-related injuries and deaths of youth that are reported to her office.
“Based on the reports of critical injuries and deaths that my office reviews every month, we have not seen any indication that youth are using from diverted supply,” Charlesworth said. “The injuries and deaths reported to us are as a result of youth accessing the illicit supply and they are typically using an array of substances. Through our advocacy work and in-depth reviews, young people are advising us that they are accessing an illicit supply in order to cope with the trauma that they are dealing with in their lives.”
April 2023 was the 31st consecutive month in which at least 150 lives were lost to unregulated drugs in B.C., and the 13th month in which more than 200 deaths were reported. The total number of deaths in April equates to about 6.9 lives lost every day. Rates of death remain extremely elevated throughout the province, with three health authorities – Vancouver Coastal, Island and Northern – reporting record high rates of death in the first quarter of the year. The provincewide rate of death through the end of April is 45.2 per 100,000 residents.
At least 12,046 British Columbians have been lost to toxic, unregulated drugs in the seven years since the public-health emergency was first declared in April 2016.
“It’s critical that we rely on science, reliable data and legitimate reporting as we respond to an emergency that has taken the lives of so many of our family members, friends and neighbours,” Lapointe said. “We mustn’t lose sight of the fact that the root of this crisis was the arrival of illicit fentanyl in B.C. in 2013, and that it has been driven by illicit fentanyl ever since. Safer-supply prescribing and the decriminalization of small amounts of some drugs for personal use are recent health-centred approaches to a complex health challenge. Anonymous allegations and second-hand anecdotes suggesting that these new initiatives are somehow responsible for the crisis our province has been experiencing since early 2016 are not only harmful, they are simply wrong.”
Friday May 19, 2023
News From The Drug War Front -Podcast- 16th May 2023
Friday May 19, 2023
Friday May 19, 2023
Quite a few good stories this week, but arguably the most important is this, announced last week....
A huge potential benefit nationally for consumers of Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST), also known as Opiate Dependency Treatment Program (ODTP) is close at hand after a recent announcement by the federal government.
The announcement comes after a 2-year review process involving consumer consultation and seeks to make the ODTP system in Australia more equitable and accessible to people.
Broadly, the plan is to put ODTP medication (buprenorphine and methadone preparations) onto an s100 schedule which would mean that people would no longer have to pay dosing fees every day, but rather would just have to pay the gap fee every 28 days (around $7 if you have a health care card and around $34 if you just have Medicare card). The pharmacy will be reimbursed by the federal government for the cost of dispensing etc.
Also, because it is a gap payment, the payments made would count towards the safety net (which at present ODTP dispensing fees do not count toward).This is a huge win for our community and something that our peak body, AIVL, has been advocating for over 30 years. We will keep you up to date on developments.
The show is co-presented by Geoff Ward and Marion Watson.
Friday May 12, 2023
News From The Drug War Front -Podcast- 9th May 2023
Friday May 12, 2023
Friday May 12, 2023
We have a range of stories to discuss- local, national, and international. The major news nationally has been the sudden ban on single-use, disposable vapes on May 2by the federal government. It plans to work with state and territory governments to end the sale of e-cigarettes and stamp out the black market in illegal vaping. Canberrans could be fined up to $32,000 or a 2-year jail sentence for possession of non-prescription e-cigarettes. We will discuss the warning given in writing by the National Peak Body on January 16 and the likely consequences of the prohibition model being applied to yet another substance. Why should this outcome prove to any different?
The Victorian Greens will introduce changes to a Labor government bill in a push to make it easier to open more safe injecting rooms and allow greater access to the “most vulnerable and marginalised” drug users.
In international news, comes a piece telling us that Israel is now the world’s #1 opioid consumer per capita.
A recent UK You Gov poll found that only 6% think authorities in Britain are winning the “war on drugs”, with 41% thinking authorities are “losing strongly”.
The show is co-presented by Geoff Ward and Marion Watson.
Wednesday May 03, 2023
News From The Drug War Front -Podcast- 2nd May 2023
Wednesday May 03, 2023
Wednesday May 03, 2023
We will have a range of stories to talk about- local, national and international. The Harm Reduction International Conference was held in Melbourne from April 16-19 and we will have plenty to talk about.
In the USA, President Joe Biden has authorised the military to call up reservists to ‘combat drug trafficking at the southern border’. Some Republican lawmakers have even suggested military intervention. Mexican officials warn that unilateral U.S. intervention would have dire consequences. “In one act, you’d destroy all the security cooperation between Mexico and the United States,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told The Washington Post. He said he considered such a strike “unlikely.”
The show is co-presented by Geoff Ward and Marion Watson.
Friday Apr 14, 2023
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