Desmond Manderson will be in conversation with Malcolm McLeod, Anna Olsen and Carolyn Strange on his new book High Time: How Australia Changed Its Mind About Illegal Drugs, a unique look at Australia's treatment of illegal drugs from the 1980s to the present.

How did the nation change its mind about drugs? Australia's repressive treatment of illicit drugs began with racist anti-Chinese laws around 1900. Until the mid-1980s, prohibition seemed absolute and unalterable, supported by local police forces, state and federal agencies and international law.

This book tells the surprising story of what happened next: the turn to a 'harm minimisation' approach. Compelled by the AIDS crisis and medical professionals agitating for change, Australian governments began to consider whether thousands of lives could be saved – not by preventing the use of drugs, but by reducing the risks associated with their use. Along the way, what began as a pragmatic response to a health crisis morphed into something more: a moral argument for compassion and respect.

Examining such controversial issues as pill testing, injecting rooms, medicinal cannabis, the opioid crisis, and vaping , High Time traces the efforts, often faltering and provisional, to forge a new path forward. Written with clarity and elegance by one of Australia's leading authorities on drug policy and history, it presents the story of Australian drug law as one that remains unfinished but is moving in a hopeful direction.

Books will be available for signing from 5.30pm and again after the event.

Readings Carlton are delighted to host the launch of Sirens: Inside the Shadow World of First Responders Martin McKenzie-Murray.

Martin McKenzie-Murray will be in-conversation with Gideon Haigh to discuss the book. 

Three first responders - a paramedic, a police officer and a firefighter - are motivated by a desire to serve the community. But they are drawn to their work by more complicated impulses as well- a need for control, an acute awareness of danger, and childhood experiences they are still running from.

Peter, a paramedic, served at high-profile disasters including the Port Arthur massacre and the Beaconsfield mine collapse. Tara, a firefighter, experienced devastating loss at a young age. Brett, a police officer, survived childhood neglect and abuse. In telling their stories, Martin McKenzie-Murray draws on his own experience and his research into trauma and recovery to ask profound questions about human motivation and survival.

This is a free event, but bookings are essential.