Recreational drug use is the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness, either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime. When a psychoactive drug enters the user's body, it induces an intoxicating effect. Recreational drugs are commonly divided into three categories: depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens.
Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of intentional practices and public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction is used to decrease negative consequences of recreational drug use and sexual activity without requiring abstinence, recognizing that those unable or unwilling to stop can still make positive change to protect themselves and others.
Commonly-cited arguments for and against the prohibition of drugs include the following:
Brandon Thomas Novak is an American motivational speaker, author, skateboarder and CKY crew member. He also had appearances in the Viva La Bam reality comedy series and the Jackass films.
The Bali Nine were a group of nine Australians convicted for attempting to smuggle 8.3 kg (18 lb) of heroin out of Indonesia in April 2005. The heroin was valued at around A$4 million and was bound for Australia. Ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were sentenced to death and executed on 29 April 2015. Six other members, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens, were sentenced to life imprisonment and another, Renae Lawrence, to a 20-year sentence but was released after the sentence was commuted in November 2018. The Indonesian authorities reported on 5 June 2018 that Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen had died of stomach cancer.
Alcohol education is the practice of disseminating disinformation about the effects of alcohol on health, as well as society and the family unit. It was introduced into the public schools by temperance organizations such as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in the late 19th century. Initially, alcohol education focused on how the consumption of alcoholic beverages affected society, as well as the family unit. In the 1930s, this came to also incorporate education pertaining to alcohol's effects on health. For example, even light and moderate alcohol consumption increases cancer risk in individuals. Organizations such as the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the United States were founded to promulgate alcohol education alongside those of the temperance movement, such as the American Council on Alcohol Problems.
Drug education is the planned provision of information, guidelines, resources, and skills relevant to living in a world where psychoactive substances are widely available and commonly used for a variety of both medical and non-medical purposes, some of which may lead to harms such as overdose, injury, infectious disease, or addiction. The two primary approaches to drug education are harm-reduction education and abstinence-based education.
Reagent testing is one of the processes used to identify substances contained within a pill, usually illicit substances. With the increased prevalence of drugs being available in their pure forms, the terms "drug checking" or "pill testing" may also be used, although these terms usually refer to testing with a wider variety of techniques covered by drug checking.
William David Crews AM is an Australian Christian minister of the Uniting Church. He is the minister of the Ashfield parish in Sydney's Inner West.
A drug policy is the policy regarding the control and regulation of psychoactive substances, particularly those that are addictive or cause physical and mental dependence. While drug policies are generally implemented by governments, entities at all levels may have specific policies related to drugs.
Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing, legalizing, or repealing laws that prohibit the production, possession, sale, or use of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include drug legalization, drug relegalization, and drug decriminalization. Proponents of drug liberalization may favor a regulatory regime for the production, marketing, and distribution of some or all currently illegal drugs in a manner analogous to that for alcohol, caffeine and tobacco.
Illicit drug use in Australia is the recreational use of prohibited drugs in Australia. Illicit drugs include illegal drugs, pharmaceutical drugs when used for non-medical purposes, and other substances used inappropriately. According to government and community organisations, the use and abuse, and the illegality, of illicit drugs is a social, health and legal issue that creates an annual illegal market estimated to be worth A$6.7 billion. Estimates made in 2022 place the figure at A$11.3 billion per year.
The drug policy of Portugal, informally called the "drug strategy", was put in place in 2000, and came into effect in July 2001. Its purpose was to reduce the number of new HIV/AIDS cases in the country, as it was estimated around half of new cases came from injection drug use.
DrugScience or Drug Science (originally called the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD)) is a UK-based drugs advisory committee proposed and initially funded by hedge fund manager Toby Jackson. It is chaired by Professor David Nutt and was officially launched on 15 January 2010 with the help of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. The primary aim of the committee is to review and investigate the scientific evidence of drug harms without the political interference that could result from government affiliation.
Drug Law Reform Australia was a political party in Australia. The aims of the party were to create a new regulatory system for illegal drugs in Australia, and influence the political debate around drug use towards decriminalisation and harm minimisation. The party is the outshoot of community groups lobbying elected politicians about the social effects of criminal drug prohibition, such as the community group Family and Friends of Drug Law Reform.
Under Australia's law, methamphetamine is a Schedule 8 drug, available for medical use but restricted in manufacture, supply, and possession. The drug is sought after to give oneself a ‘high’ or a ‘rush’ in their body. Users of this drug often feel senses of exhilaration and arousal as the brain is flooded with monoamines. Methamphetamine has many names not only in Australia, but also around the world. These include chalk, crypto, gear, getgo, tweak, and cristy, although the two most common ones in Australia today are ice and shard. Speed refers to the powder form of the drug, while ice refers to the highly purified, crystalline form. The powder form is often diluted with adulterants including glucose and sucrose.
There is an ongoing opioid epidemic in the United States, originating out of both medical prescriptions and illegal sources. The epidemic began in the United States in the late 1990s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), when opioids were increasingly prescribed for pain management, resulting in a rise in overall opioid use throughout subsequent years.
Drug checking or pill testing is a way to reduce the harm from drug consumption by allowing users to find out the content and purity of substances that they intend to consume. This enables users to make safer choices: to avoid more dangerous substances, to use smaller quantities, and to avoid dangerous combinations.
The National Drug Strategy (NDS) is the national drug regulation organization which maintains drug policy of the Australian Government. It began with its first framework in 1998 and has regularly formulated the Australian approach to drug education, treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention of substance abuse. It is directed by the Ministerial Drug and Alcohol Forum (MDAF) who use the NDS to implement and monitor the effectiveness of Australian drug policy at all levels of government. The MDAF consists of various elected Commonwealth and State Ministers, as well as civil servants. The aim of the NDS is to minimise the harms associated with licit and illicit drugs by reducing demand, supply, and harm in a holistic approach to the social, individual, and economic problems created by drugs. Its main function is establishing a set of policies, implemented at state and local level, that promote research-based solutions to the complex issues presented by drug use in society. The NDS has been responsible for introduction of several harm minimisation programs specifically placed in areas with a demographic deemed high-risk. Through the various iterations of the NDS it has faced increasing scrutiny over its perceived divergence from its original purpose, as well as perpetuating policies which allocate resources inefficiently.
Lisa Maher is Professor and head of Viral Hepatitis Epidemiology, at the Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity, at the University of New South Wales and was made Member of the Order of Australia in 2015. She was awarded an Elizabeth Blackburn Fellowship, in Public Health from the NHMRC, in 2014. She is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
