Why should the rest of us care about someone being punished for what everyone knows is a crime? Well here’s why: because of the collateral damage to families and the negative flow on effects across our communities. When the wheels fall off, we all end up paying.

A national health and social services Roundtable summit on drug law reform in March 2018 addressed the evidence that a prohibition and law enforcement approach is not reducing illegal drug use, but is instead causing many adverse outcomes across our communities. Can you help us make sure the outcomes of the Roundtable help influence drug law reform?

Australia21 warmly welcomes today’s 50 recommendations from Victoria’s Inquiry Into Drug Law Reform, calling for greater balance between traditional law enforcement on one hand and health‑based responses that will have a broader positive effect on the health and safety of communities on the other.

National summit warns current Australian drug laws cause of worsen health and social harms and calls on the federal, state and territory governments to remove criminal sanctions for personal use and possession.

More than 30 of Australia’s health and social service organisations and policy leaders have agreed to work together to raise public awareness that current Australian drug laws, although well-intentioned, create or worsen a wide range of health and social harms.

Policy was often ignored in favour of politicking in Australia’s parliaments in 2017, so Australia21 has set out a roadmap to keep our MPs on track through 2018. We urge them to tackle issues that really matter this year, where evidence shows the nation will benefit from apolitical discussion and sensible decisions.

As the year comes to a close, Australia21 is proud to release our 2016-17 Annual Report. We did a lot with very little over the period, running nationally significant projects, boosting our profile and calibrating the goals that will keep us powering on through 2017-2018.

The final Australia21 Board meeting of 2017 was a rare opportunity to meet face-to-face. The time together sowed the seeds for new approaches and themes, while revealing fresh sources of energy and providing a strong foundation for the work to come in 2018.