A Melbourne school has signed up to pilot Australia21’s Smarter About Drugs Conversation Pack to engage its students in open and informed discussions about illicit drugs and the policies that guide Australia’s response to them. In other developments this month, the Making the Future Work project has been awarded $10,000 grant, there’s been a major shift on PTSD and we give you a sneak preview of our soon-to-be released Algal Farming report.

Join our campaign to get the message out: too many drug users are dying and being criminalised or demonised, instead of being protected from harm.

Police, prison officers and politicians are standing side-by-side with drug users to call for law reform. They say the current practice of jailing people for personal use and possession instead […]

National conversation”Smarter about drugs” – Adelaide May 7, 2014. This was an event for young people and the whole community. Co-hosted by Australia21, the Ted Noffs Centre and the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre at the University of South Australia, it comprised an afternoon workshop (2-5pm) for young people followed by a panel discussion for parents, teachers, interested community members and young people in the evening (6.30-8pm). Both were held at the Hawke Centre in the Adelaide CBD. Live streaming of questions and comments connected young people around Australia making this a national event. The workshop and the evening discussion were filmed as a discussion starter for later use in schools, youth groups and communities.