Drugs

The story of diet drugs is one full of miracle cures that often don't live up to the hype or come with serious side effects.

Australia has just legalised psilocybin and MDMA for treating depression and PTSD, but is the health profession ready? 

Dave's story is pretty common; drug use and possession leading to an arrest and criminal record, which negatively affect everything afterwards. It is one example being used by advocates to plead for a change in Tasmania's drug policy.

Two parents who withheld “vital” information from paramedics after their toddler ingested a potentially lethal dose of the party drug fantasy (GHB) will both spend time behind bars.

From pink cocaine and dangerous opioids to a never-before-seen drug dubbed CanKet, Australia's first drug-checking service has made history-making discoveries in 12 months.

The novel synthetic opioid protonitazine has been detected in Victoria, Queensland, and most recently in South Australia, where health authorities have linked it to an Adelaide man's death and multiple overdoses.

A man has died and a young woman remains in hospital following suspected overdoses involving a synthetic opioid called protonitazene. The latest cases follow two confirmed overdoses last week.

The government has held talks with the Salvation Army on Bourke Street about establishing the city's second supervised injecting room at the CBD location.

For mothers with drug or alcohol dependence, one of the biggest barriers to seeking help at a residential rehab is who will look after their children while they get treatment. 

Racing authorities accuse Jamie Kah and two others of breaching the sport's rules over pictures showing them with a white powder.

President Joe Biden has been briefed on the investigation into the discovery of cocaine on the lobby floor of the White House West Wing, and thinks it is "incredibly important" for the Secret Service to determine how it got there.

Australian researchers call for an end to the use of opioids to treat acute back and neck pain after finding they are no more effective than a placebo.

Drugs including MDMA, ketamine and cocaine were seized by police at the four-day music event.

Follow the path cocaine takes from Colombian bush labs to your local suburbs — and the battle to intercept it.

Lily Foster battled addiction for 20 years and "lost" everything. She wants to share her "lived experience" so others can benefit but in Tasmania, it's not easy for her to make her voice heard. 

A Canberra court hears how a man was "shattered" when his girlfriend died from an overdose of drugs he had supplied to her.

Mescaline, the hallucinogenic substance in some cacti, is illegal to use. But with the recent medical approval of other similar psychedelics, this scientist wants more research on the plant.

A Tasmanian inquiry hears disturbing accounts of children being injected and given ice by parents wanting them to commit crimes.

The Legalise Cannabis party says the move to reform cannabis legislation will help shift Australians out of the criminal justice system.

Lauren Jackson was granted an exemption to take medicinal cannabis when she made a fairytale comeback to basketball. But its use — both within and outside sport — remains stigmatised while Australia's laws are difficult to understand and navigate.

Amid a shift away from opioids — with prescriptions dropping 30 per cent between 2016 and 2021 — chronic pain sufferers like Daniel King are experiencing acute distress.

Mayumi Spencer's husband wanted the coronial findings about his wife's death suppressed, but media outlets successfully fought to make them public.

There are reports coming from all around the country of people being needle and drink spiked. Here's a guide on what to do if you think you're one of them.

Needle spiking is when a person is injected with a drug without their consent, and it's unknown how much it's happening in Australian venues.

More than a dozen private opioid treatment services in Queensland and New South Wales are at risk of closure because of changes announced in last month's federal budget, say clinic operators.