Drug and Substance Abuse

The Queensland Supreme Court has heard a father charged over the death of his unattended young daughter had been taking drugs and was sleep deprived in the lead-up to the tragedy.

AFP launched its investigation in May after the Canada Border Services Agency allegedly identified the illicit drugs hidden in juice bottles, which had arrived in Vancouver from Brazil.

Matt Darcy nearly died of a heroin overdose. As drug-induced deaths rise in Western Australia, health services are pushing to get naloxone into more hands.

South Australia's Attorney General Kyam Maher will address "gaps" in the state's law after a young mother's killer was sentenced to 11 years behind bars after he was found to be experiencing drug-induced hallucinations at the time of the offence. 

Former drug traffickers have revealed how they manipulated often under-resourced border controls and isolated ports and airports, to bring drugs into the Pacific.

Almost a million tourists come to Fiji every year. But behind the sun and sand, there's a dark side to the islands, with cartels using Fiji to import drugs into lucrative markets — a drug problem that has now spread into communities.

An international naloxone advocate says the anti-overdose medication should be as accessible as fire extinguishers and defibrillators, as deadly synthetic opioids infiltrate Australia's drug market.

Police in Tonga say an alleged Comancheros gang member deported from Australia was behind moves to establish the outlaw motorcycle group in the Pacific island — an attempt they say was disrupted in a drug bust this month.

In its first two years, Canberra's fixed drug checking service has found meth in a counterfeit diet pill and a synthetic opioid thought to be 25 times stronger than fentanyl.

Allegedly dodgy doctors teamed up with an LA dealer known as the "Ketamine Queen" and the Friends' star's personal assistant to use his addiction issues to "enrich themselves", US authorities say after charging five people following a wide-ranging investigation. 

Over the 21st century, fatal overdoses have begun to grow in Australia's suburban and regional areas. Some say the answer is safe injecting facilities. But would it help?

Queensland drug checking service CheQpoint says phenacetin has been found in two samples of cocaine tested in its new Burleigh Heads facility that opened last month.

It is one of the big challenges of parenting; setting rules around alcohol with teenagers. Is it a good idea to give them a taste early? Is that even legal? 

Wolston Park closed in 2001, but it remains infamous for widespread allegations of sexual abuse, beatings, chemical restraint and “shock therapy” from the 1950s to 1980s. 

An alcohol and drug rehabilitation provider near Esperance vows to review its program after former residents raise concerns about its reliance on unqualified staff and limited mental health support.

As dangerous new opioids arrive on Australian streets, experts are calling for more frontline workers to be issued with naloxone, a medicine that can halt drug overdoses.

Gus Cooke took illegal anabolic steroids for more than a decade and he doesn't recommend their use. A new drug-checking trial aims to minimise harm among steroid users. 

South Australian authorities issue a public warning after a highly toxic synthetic opioid more powerful than morphine was linked to seven fatal overdoses.

Roadside drug testing will be bolstered in SA to allow for on-the-spot cocaine detection, as police seek to reduce the frequency of fatal crashes linked to the illicit substance.

Like her mother, Tarnika became addicted to drugs and went to prison. The number of First Nations women being incarcerated is on the rise.