Drugs & Alcohol

All NT patrols to carry stun guns

Civil Liberties Australia — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:48:59 +0000

Every police patrol in the NT will carry at least one stun gun by Christmas, with 100 new weapons taking the NT Police total to 230. In 2009, Kwementyaye Rubuntja, 39, died from heart failure after being stunned twice in Alice Springs. The NT coroner found his death may have been linked to the stunning, the ABC reported.

Watch the ABC 7.30 Report coverage »...

This article was posted on the Civil Liberties Australia website.

Even in the capital city, Indigenous Australians suffer disproportionately

Civil Liberties Australia — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:34:54 +0000

Despite adequate resources and general goodwill, 'significant improvement' continues to elude Indigenous Australians, even in the national capital, Aboriginal Justice leader Brendan Church writes. He provides a 10-point list of ways improvement is possible.

This article was posted on the Civil Liberties Australia website.

Students help frame debates

Civil Liberties Australia — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:53:53 +0000

CLA works with advanced and honours students on topics of mutual interest, where the student gains credits for 'internship' programs or honours studies, and CLA benefits from excellent research papers which help to shape a current or future dilemma. See if one of these research ideas interests you.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

No proof roadside drug testingdrivers benefits the community

Civil Liberties Australia — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:56:43 +0000

Around Australia, drug testing of drivers takes places with no proven benefit to society and great penalty to people's civil liberties. In WA, the accuracy of the tests is declining, research in SA shows (see CLArion newsletter July 2010). Here, Bill Bush outlines why the ACT should not introduce such an uncertain, inequitable form of driver testing.
Read article»...

This article was posted on the Civil Liberties Australia website.

Indigenous stats sound alarm bells

Civil Liberties Australia — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:41:36 +0000

Victoria is one of the more enlightened states in looking after Indigenous people...but still the statistics are appalling, as this analysis by Keith McEwan points out. "Life is not so good for an Indigenous person living in Victoria...or, for that matter, anywhere in Australia."

This article was posted on the Civil Liberties Australia website.

Drugs: health carrots, not sticks

Civil Liberties Australia — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:44:36 +0000

Australian drug policies are not working: criminals are getting richer, prison populations are swelling and there are major national health problems, including deaths from overdoses in every State and Territory. Surely, CLA says, it is time for the new National Drug Strategy 2010-2015 to learn from other countries and try new health-based carrots, rather than police-based sticks.

This article was posted on the Civil Liberties Australia website.

And still the prison population rises...

Civil Liberties Australia — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:43:53 +0000

style="float: left; border: 0; margin: 5px;" src="/images/09prisonrates.gif" alt="2009 Prison Rates" You'd think, from all the posturing by Law & Order (LO) politicians through Australia, that crime was up, but it is down. But what's really up is the prison population, by 36% (or 7759) from 21,358 to 29,317 over the past 10 years. At nearly $100,000 per prisoner, it's costing taxpayers about $800 million a year extra because pollies want to make big fellas of themselves in newspaper headlines.

This article was posted on the Civil Liberties Australia website.

Personal risk and choice should be free from State mis-manipulation

Civil Liberties Australia — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:41:48 +0000

Deciding what goes into our bodies is a basic human right: why then do politicians interfere selectively in our freedom to choose? Regulation and education could take supply of drugs away from criminals, and let adults make their own, educated decisions about which drugs, if any, to ingest: tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, whatever.

This article was posted on the Civil Liberties Australia website.