Welcome to our community space where we share peer written blogs, reflections, lived experience stories and poems. This space is also used to post summaries on the latest drug research, laws and news.
You can also find details on our upcoming Hi-Events, this includes events we are attending or our ‘chatroom takeovers’. For these events we invite relevant healthcare professionals, AOD workers, researchers and passionate peers to lead focused discussions on different subjects and let you guys in the chatroom ask the questions!
Want to contribute to this space or have a story to share? Get in touch via our ‘become a Hi-Peer’ page and you can upload your Hi-Tale there. Alternatively if you’d like more information you can contact us via email at hi-ground@quihn.org and we will get back to you.
Hi-Ground Launch On the 22nd of April Hi-Ground proudly launched the project in Brisbane with a bang. The evening was filled with many members of the community, harm reduction workers and peers from Hi-Ground, QuIHN, QuIVAA across the regions of the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Gold Coast. Many thanks to other organisations such as QNADA, … Continued
Stigma & Language Our survey shows that many people have experiences of discrimination or stigma because of their drug use, with majority coming from their own family or friends. This then followed from the wider community, the police and healthcare services. Some ways to tackle stigma with family and friends. It can be really hard … Continued
New data released today by the Global Drugs Survey has found that Australians reported getting drunk 27 times during 2020, compared with the global average of 14.6. Data gathered from over 32,000 people across 22 countries shows that Australian’s top the list in heavy drinking, with Denmark, Finland, and the US following behind. Aussies actually … Continued
World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year. It raises awareness across the world and in the community about the issues surrounding HIV and AIDS. It is a day for people to show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. The AIDS Memorial Quilt, which was … Continued
New South Wales Greens MP Cate Faehrmann is bringing two cannabis reform bills to the state’s Upper House in the next two weeks. On Wednesday November 17, Faehrmann introduced the Road Transport Amendment Bill (Medicinal Cannabis — Exemptions from Offences) Bill 2021 to the Legislative Council. The bill, due for debate in 2022, provides an … Continued
A Melbourne doctor who is fighting for permission to treat a severely unwell patient with the drug MDMA has taken his battle to court, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in Australia. Consultant psychiatrist Eli Kotler launched legal action after the Victorian Department of Health knocked back an application … Continued
The New Zealand government will fund recreational drug checks at festivals and concerts, giving NZ$800,000 to a service that previously operated in a legal grey zone. While pill testing has operated to some extent for years, it did so in an uncertain area that stopped it getting into major music festivals. Even when the Government … Continued
It was 7pm, we’d just arrived to the party. I thought I’d have a quick ciggie before going inside. Covid hasn’t helped with that initial social anxiety, especially arriving to a big party. I thought I’d slowly integrate myself into the space. While chatting to a bunch of friends a bump of K was offered … Continued
NADA’s new amazing AOD Resource Finder! This is the ultimate AOD resource finder we’ve all been waiting for… The Network of Alcohol and other Drugs Agencies (NADA) has just launched a new digital portal to make it easier for health professionals to find evidence-based practice resources online from trusted service providers nationally. The portal contains … Continued
Canadian drug users are sick of being forced to purchase their drugs from a poisoned drug supply run by the criminal underground. A non-profit organisation, consisting of drug policy reform advocates and people who use drugs (PWUD’s), calling themselves the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs (CAPUD), are suing the Canadian Government for … Continued
Stigma of Overdose and Why Awareness is Important Stigma – There is a stigma around substance use and overdoses caused by substances. This can create a barrier to seeking treatment and in having support from family and friends because of a lack of understanding around how substances can affect a person. The notion that the … Continued
People released from prison are more likely to overdose & die in the weeks immediately following release For those who use opioids, overdose is common, both for those who use and those around then (family and friends) and is the lead causation of death for this population (Degenhardt et al., 2011). Worldwide opioid overdoses are … Continued
On a nice sunny day in summer a friend of mine brought over some GHB also known as liquid fantasy or frank. Me and two other friends who were there decided to have a dose of GHB. I have taken GHB quite a few times, so I knew what I was taking, what to expect, … Continued
My name is Jimmy. I’m a Grandad, a father, a taxi-driver and I owe my life to Narcan. Last year I was using 80mg of Methadone, takeaway, but I would never drink it. Using a butterfly, I would carefully, slowly inject that 80mg and feel the warm slow rush of opiate through my system. … Continued
Victoria. The Dark Ages in Drug Reform. Victoria is in lockdown. Not just due to Covid. Due to its Government refusing to look at the facts about drugs. As Science PUSHES to heard, by perpetually demonstrating the soundness of their studies that SHOW the value of many illegal drugs in treating depression and anxiety, that … Continued
The brutality that was old school Hep C treatment… So, I had Hep C. Strain 1.A. This was the early 2000’s. It was a shitty time for Hep C treatment, but FAR better than the outcome that people with the previously classed, non-A non-B Hepatitis had. Before they isolated Hepatitis C as … Continued
I remember the call.. Life was going great, not. I had just recently been discharged from hospital with a horrific abscess in my arm. I was a mutant, but I was lucky to have still have an arm this “unpretty”. I had also had septicaemia, (blood poisoning) so I had been found unconscious … Continued
Victoria ALMOST legalised the growing of a small number of cannabis plants at home for personal use. ALMOST! And almost removed small cannabis convictions from people’s criminal records and almost saved Young People from becoming involved in the criminal system for possession of small amounts of cannabis. After a two-year State Parliament enquiry, looking … Continued
WA to Introduces New Drug and Drink Driving Penalties from 1 July 2021 As of 1 July 2021, the WA State Government’s new Road Traffic Amendment (Impaired Driving and Penalties) Act 2019 has come into effect. The new “polydrug” offence separates the offence of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs from the offence … Continued
This week in psychedelic news! Links to articles below. California Activists File Psilocybin Legalization Ballot Measure As Legislature Advances Broader Psychedelics Bill Red Light Holland CEO on Moving Past Stigma Around Psychedelics LSD and Nicotine Could be More Important to Healthcare Than We Think Treating Addiction With Psychedelics: An Interview With Professor David Nutt and … Continued
Weed News from Around the World during July 2021 Links below! Australian Medical Cannabis Prices Drop 11% In A Year Tasmania: The First State to End Evidence-Free RDT! Senate Democratic Leaders Unveil Draft Bill to Legalize Cannabis Is The Czech Republic on The Cusp of a Cannabis Boom? Australian Cannabis Communities Bloom in Recent Years … Continued
Our latest project! Thanks to the ‘Investing in Queensland Women Grant’ we are undertaking research to develop relevant and non-judgemental harm reduction resources for diverse Queensland women. Resources will include wellbeing and substance harm reduction information for: ~ parenting/pregnancy/breastfeeding ~ young women ~ LGBTIQ+ ~ Women with a disability ~ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander … Continued
I was 23 years of age and working on Grey Street, St. Kilda (Melbourne). That is, I was picking up clients off the street and taking them up to my third floor apartment and providing sexual favours for money. My then friends were other working girls who worked in close proximity to me. We looked … Continued
Will Australia Learn From Thailand’s Growing Medical Cannabis Tourism Industry? Cannabis Treatment for Sick Dogs Lags Behind US, but Colorado Expert Urges Caution Doctors Drowning in Red Tape as TGA Upgrade Blows Out SAS-B Approval Times NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann Demands Action After Police Target Mardi Grass Attendees Legalising Recreational Cannabis Will Protect Patients … Continued
Today is Support Don’t Punish Day. Support Don’t Punish is a global advocacy campaign that calls for drug policies based on health and human rights, rather than punishing people who use drugs. Support Don’t Punish recognises that the ‘war on drugs’ approach leads to punishment, exclusion and stigma. Lets work towards alternative … Continued
I lost count the number of rude comments, judgments and assumptions that have been said to me over my 23 years. I can’t remember how many times I’ve woken up to the ‘BANG BANG BANG POLICE’ on the door at 5am. As a child I have been strip searched, police have attended my high school … Continued