The Decriminalisation of Drugs legislation – Let’s talk about this | LIVE EVENT

The Yarra Drug & Health Forum host Fiona Patten and John Fitzgerald in a discussion on a proposal to decriminalise drugs in Victoria, with host YDHF Chair Peter Wearne and comments from lived experience community members. This is a live event from the Edinburgh Gardens community room in Fitzroy North.

• Fiona’s statement on the Bill
• Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Decriminalisation of Possession and Use of Drugs of Dependence) Bill 2022

FIONA PATTEN MLC

Founder and leader of the Reason Party, and a Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for the Northern Metropolitan region Fiona Patten has recently introduced a Bill to Victorian Parliament to decriminalise possession and use of drugs.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JOHN FITZGERALD

Associate Professor Fitzgerald is an expert in Alcohol and Drug Policy. He has a PhD in Pharmacology on the drug ecstasy and a second PhD in English on the discourse and language used to understand psychoactive substances.

Saade Gibran Melki

Saade will be speaking at the event and writes here directly about his own life experiences.

Hey there!
I have lived most of my adult life as a student while addicted to opiates.
I graduated from Latrobe with a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology and Cell Biology. Honours year was with Dr. Naomi Bishop in the microbiology department. Our research on gene classification was scooped so I started another project in the Department of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning at RMIT with Dr. James Rowe.

Within These Walls discusses the rampant drug use and the need for needle and syringe exchange in the prison system. Research by Julia Medew and myself. Edited by Julia Medew.

Read the article by clicking here

I have been interviewed by channel 9 journalist Laura Turner to discuss the opening of medically supervised injecting rooms and the replacement therapy using Buvidal.

On another battlefront, recently I was finally given the all clear by my oncologist at St Vincent’s Hospital, Fitzroy. Prior to that, I have been battling metastatic testicular cancer. This commonly cured type of cancer rarely gets to stage 4 but in my case, I was at the whim of the justice system and the private prison corporations.
It’s a thrilling conversation but I think I’d better stick to my overarching obligations and leave that part of my story for another day!