The too hard basket SBS News

The so-called 'war on drugs' has been waged in the US since at least the 1970s, when then President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act and declared drug abuse as “public enemy number one.” In Australia, there have been similar efforts to battle drug trafficking and use. As prescription opioids overtake heroin as a public health emergency, those efforts have expanded to restrict the control and supply of those substances too. First Nations people have been much more heavily impacted by substance issues and official responses than the non-Indigenous population. In this Episode of The Too Hard Basket, and in the final story of a three part series on drugs in Australia, we look at how these issues play out for Indigenous communities.

Most of us might be familiar with the term 'the war on drugs'. In the US, it's been waged since the 1970s, when then President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act and declared drug abuse as “public enemy number one.” In Australia, there have been similar efforts historically to battle drug trafficking and drug use. On today's episode of The Too Hard Basket, we look at how state and federal governments are now handling these issues, and if a hardline approach is still the answer. This is the second story in a three part series on drugs in Australia.

Most of us might be familiar with the term 'the war on drugs'. In the US, it's been waged since the 1970s, when then President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act and declared drug abuse as “public enemy number one.” But today, it's not so much illicit drugs but prescription medication that the US is fighting, with deaths from prescription opioids reaching crisis levels. Authorities in Australia have been keen to avoid a similar emergency here, introducing restrictions in 2020 to limit their supply. In this episode of the Too Hard Basket series, SBS looks at how effective these changes have been so far - and what else needs to be done. This is the first in a three-part series investigating drugs in Australia.

In this episode of the Too Hard Basket, we'll look at aged care funding, and the money that's been set aside in the latest federal Budget to improve the wages of aged care workers. With Australia's population getting older, there's concern that the problems identified by the aged care royal commission still persist. We ask will this Budget be the game changer the sector needs?

In this episode, we'll look at sexual harassment and sexual assault on university campuses. We look at how prevalent these incidents are, and what can be done to change things.

In this episode, we look at the skyrocketing costs of renting a property in Australia, which almost everyone agrees has put a lot of people under immense pressure. So why do we have this issue? And what can be done to change the system?