25 Years, 0 Deaths: Celebrating Uniting MSIC
In 25 years of operation, MSIC has seen over 18,000 clients walk through the door, supervised over 1.35 million injections, and managed over 12,000 overdoses. Not one person has died on its premises.
The mammoth figures and 25-year tenure are no easy feat. The story of how MSIC got here, through political battles, community resistance, tabloid fearmongering, and sheer determination, is one worth telling again, especially as we look ahead to what comes next.
What Ear Wax Taught Me About Drug Checking
Written at the close of the NSW Drug Checking Trial, Drug Checking Lead Clancy reflects on their time in the role. Drawing on a year of insight they ask a deceptively simple question: if most harm reduction happens invisibly, in communities, without any professional input at all, what are we actually measuring when we evaluate the services we can see?
Magic mushrooms for meth?
There is an ongoing clinical trial of giving psilocybin (the active ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms’) to help people who are living with a methamphetamine (‘meth’ or ‘ice’) use disorder. Maureen Steele is a Peer Worker who helped design the trial to ensure it gives users what they need to succeed.
NSW State Election 2023: where do the parties stand?
How do NSW Parties score on important drug policy reform in NSW? The NSW Users and Aids Association asked registered parties for the upcoming NSW Election a series of questions to understand how their party scores on important issues in NSW Drug Policy Reform. See the scorecard to find out.
What are the penalties for possessing different weights of drugs in NSW?
Our handy new table lists the penalties you could get in NSW for possessing different quantities of the most common drugs.
What happens when police stop you on the street and you start shaking? | Shane’s Story
Most of society doesn’t realise this stuff happens. Shane is a peer worker who lives and breathes NUAA’s mission to advance the health, rights and dignity of people who use drugs. Unfortunately, Shane is regularly stopped by police and his healthy fear of police means he can barely breathe around them — which makes him look even more suspicious.
Why aren’t people in rural areas getting the new ‘game-changing’ hep C treatments? | Katrina’s Story
Katrina is a peer distributor for NUAA in a small rural town in NSW. She’s known she’s had hep C for 6 years but has found it hard to get treated because of the lack of services in her area and past experiences of stigma within a health care setting.
Diversionary Tactics: A short history of halfway measures on drug law reform in Victoria
What’s going on with the battle for the decriminalisation of drugs in Victoria, Australia? Harm Reduction Victoria’s CEO, Sione Crawford gives us the lowdown.
Strong vote for Legalise Cannabis candidate in Queensland
Post-election Interview with Bernie Bradley, Queensland Legalise Cannabis Party
Chad’s opinion: Duty of care vs Dignity of risk
Chad has written this opinion piece, reflecting on the shifting sands around accessing prescription opioids based on his own use of pain medications
BUSTED: ‘What happens when you get caught with drugs at a festival in NSW?
Uh oh – you’ve been caught with drugs in your possession at a festival in NSW. What happens next depends on a few things…
Busted @ DEFQON.1: Charlee’s Story
“Out the back they had the strip search tents set up, and a female cop waiting for me in one. She told me I had to take all my clothes off, and then said she needed me to squat and cough.”
