Hunter majority supports pill testing according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Australia's attitudes and perceptions towards drugs by region report

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Australia's attitudes and perceptions towards drugs by region report showed attitudes towards illegal drugs have changed in the region.

The data sourced in 2019 showed more people from the Hunter Valley, Lake Macquarie and Newcastle believed cannabis should be decriminalised and legalised than in 2010.

Seventy-eight per cent of Hunter respondents did not believe possession of weed should be a criminal offence, up from 69.2 per cent in 2010, while the number of people who supported legalisation for personal use rose from 27.8 per cent to 40.8 per cent.

A total of 19.5 per cent approved of cannabis for personal use compared to 16.9 per cent for tobacco.

This also differed to the response in 2010, when just 8.7 per cent said they approved of personal cannabis use, but tobacco support was similar at 16.4 per cent.

However most said they still wouldn't use cannabis if it was legal, with 76.1 per cent saying a law reform wouldn't change their mind. A little more than 10 per cent said they would try it if it was legal and 12.6 per cent said they would use it as much as they currently do.

University of Newcastle Professor of Nursing Alison Hutton said she believed cannabis being legalised overseas could be having an impact on views here, as well as society becoming more progressive.

"You don't hear that people have died because marijuana is legal," she said.

Pill testing was a new question in the survey, which 52.7 per cent of people in the Hunter supported. This compared to a NSW average of 57.3 per cent and national rate of 56.6 per cent.

Also in relation to harm minimisation, 43 per cent of Hunter people were supportive of supervised drug rooms.

Professor Hutton is conducting a study about pill testing. She said the initiative was a way to support young people who choose to take drugs, and did not believe it was an encouragement.

"People already take drugs for pleasure and recreation," she said. "They don't need 'permission' through pill testing.

"There's no safe space for people to talk about drugs. We have seen pill testing around the world educates people."

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