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The assessment of fitness to stand trial in Australian jurisdictions has been grounded in the R v Presser criteria for more 60 years. However, a range of subsequent precedents has assisted expert witnesses to ensure that clinical assessments can inform the legal process more effectively, as have changes in legal process. Awareness of particularly vulnerable cohorts, and of contemporary approaches to disability, has led some jurisdictions to introduce supports for defendants. The lived experience of those found unfit to stand trial reminds all who participate in the legal process of the importance of access to justice, and the possible outcomes of being found unfit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methamphetamine, particularly "ice", currently preoccupies the media and there are a range of government initiatives which seem to follow media interest. We summarise the progress of government attention, briefly review health concerns associated with methamphetamine use, and summarise the evidence for treatments, including psychosocial interventions and medications. Amid concerns that governments will seek to fund any promising initiative in order to be perceived as responding to an epidemic, we caution that existing treatments should not be abandoned in favour of untested but potentially attractive treatments. Harm reduction and outpatient psychological treatments remain the mainstay of drug treatment programs and may be more cost-effective and broader-reaching than inpatient, medication-based detoxifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]