Outstanding drug and alcohol workers and organisations will be recognised for their tireless work preventing or minimising harm in our community.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said: “Every day, thousands of dedicated professionals offer their experience, expertise and compassion to those struggling with the consequences of drug use. Their interventions help protect public health, reduce crime, and enable users to come to terms with their condition and regain control of their future. If these are difficult endeavours, they are never thankless. Rather our hardworking drug and alcohol workers have the nation’s gratitude and admiration.”

Nominations for the National Drug & Alcohol Awards are now open at www.drugawards.org.au

The Awards recognise the many people and organisations doing exceptional work to reduce the harm and impact of alcohol and other drugs in Australia.

Awards will be presented at the National Drug & Alcohol Awards Presentation Dinner at the Plaza Ballroom in Melbourne on Friday 22 June 2012.

Categories for nomination are:

v Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence and Outstanding Contribution to Drug and Alcohol Endeavours
v Excellence in Prevention and Community Education
v Excellence in Treatment and Support
v Excellence in Research
v Excellence in Services to Young People
v Excellence in Law Enforcement
v Excellence in Alcohol and other Drugs Media Reporting
v Excellence in School Drug Education
v Excellence in Creating Healthy Sporting Communities

The 2012 inductees for the National Drug and Alcohol Honour Roll will also be announced – for which nominations can also be made.

If someone you know deserves recognition for their valuable contribution make sure you nominate them by Monday 30 April 2012.

Each category winner will receive $2000 prize money.

To find out more about the selection criteria and access the nomination form visit
www.drugawards.org.au

The National Drug and Alcohol Awards are a collaborative initiative by the Ted Noffs Foundation (TNF), the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD), the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA), and the Australian Drug Foundation. This year’s Awards are coordinated by the Australian Drug Foundation.

Awards and Presentation Information: Vanessa Ferguson 0415 561 243 or info@drugawards.org.au

Media Enquiries: Jaki Colgan or Renee Lustman, Australian Drug Foundation, 03 9278 8100 or 0430 948 380.

Description: Australia has long been recognised as a drug taking society. The landmark Senate Report in 1981, chaired by then Senator Dr Peter Baume painted a stark picture of the way excessive alcohol and prescription drug consumption impacted on the lives of all Australians. With the exception of our efforts to curb drink driving, we appear to have achieved little in the way we use and misuse alcohol. The estimated cost of alcohol related problems now stands at a staggering $36 billion per year. The economic impact of all other drugs (excluding tobacco) is in comparison, modest at $6 billion.

Communities throughout Australia are increasingly concerned about the problems posed by excessive alcohol and drug fuelled violence. Many communities and businesses have taken action in an effort to reduce alcohol and drug related harm. Efforts at the national level to tackle our excessive alcohol consumption have been limited and poorly coordinated. Building our effectiveness to advocate for better public policy from local, state and federal governments is increasingly seen as important for communities to ‘take back the streets’ and turn around the level of alcohol and drug-fuelled violence.

This seminar will examine:

The problems of alcohol and drug related harm in communities
The role of marketing in alcohol use
Community advocacy and action for better alcohol-related policy
A range of community based initiatives to tackle alcohol related harm including those in Indigenous communities.
http://www.focushealth.com.au/activities.html

As reported by a number of media outlets this morning, researchers from the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC) are currently leading a study to determine whether the pharmaceutical drug Sativex can help people better manage cannabis withdrawal symptoms as a platform for ongoing abstinence.

For a copy of the official press release and further information on the trial, please go to the NCPIC website.

What is Sativex?
· SATIVEX® is a treatment for the symptomatic relief of neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis in adults, and has been approved for use in Canada, Spain and the UK
· SATIVEX® is a buccal (mouth) spray which contains the cannabis extracts delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD)
· THC is the substance primarily responsible for the psychoactive effects of cannabis, however, the spray administers the substance at doses below the level of intoxication

Double blind, randomised, placebo controlled trial of SATIVEX® for the management of cannabis withdrawal
· The primary objective of the study is to examine the safety and efficacy of SATIVEX® in the inpatient management of cannabis withdrawal, in a double blind, randomised trial compared to placebo
· The study, funded by National Health and Medical Research Council, is currently recruiting participants over the age of 18 years, who are regular cannabis users with the desire to quit (but have tried and failed in the past), and who are willing to commit to an 8-day stay in hospital. People who are interested in taking part in the study should contact Dr David Allsop on (02) 9385 0448 during office hours, or email: cannabiswithdrawal@unsw.edu.au

Are you a health professional who counsels individuals who use cannabis? If so, the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre would like to invite you to participate in an online survey to find out your views on cannabis use treatment guidelines. The survey takes less than 30 minutes to complete and participation is confidential. You will not be asked to identify your place of employment. Participants who complete the survey will be asked to provide an email address to enter a draw to win one of ten $100 AUD vouchers via PayPal. To complete the survey, please follow the link:
https://www.surveys.unsw.edu.au/survey/156130/586a/

Contact Dr Melissa Norberg for enquiries (m.norberg@unsw.edu.au). This research has been approved by UNSW Human Research Ethics Advisory Panel (HREA: 2011-7-47).

The December 2011 Illicit Drugs Reporting System (IDRS) and the Ecstasy and related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS) quarterly Drug Trends bulletins are now available on the flash new NDARC website. Topics are as follows:

IDRS: Driving behaviours among people who inject drugs in South Australia, 2006-2011: http://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/resource/idrs-bulletin-december-2011-driving-behaviours-among-people-who-inject-drugs-south

EDRS: What consumers are using now: which drug is on top? Feasibility study of regular stimulant users: http://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/resource/edrs-bulletin-december-2011-what-consumers-are-using-now-which-drug-top-feasibility-study

Expression of interest:
Research Assistants required by Alcohol Policy Research Team,
National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth

The alcohol policy research team, at the National Drug Research Institute, is seeking expressions of interest from applicants with an interest in
public health to work in Perth as part of the Patron Offending and Intoxication in Night-Time Entertainment Districts (POINTED) research project.

For more details about the project and how to apply, view the flyer

When intelligence was factored in, the analysis showed that men with high IQ scores at the age of 5 were around 50% more likely to have used amphetamines, ecstasy, and several illicit drugs than those with low scores, 25 years later.
The link was even stronger among women, who were more than twice as likely to have used cannabis and cocaine as those with low IQ scores.
The same associations emerged between a high IQ score at the age of 10 and subsequent use of cannabis, ecstasy, amphetamines, multiple drug use and cocaine, although this last association was only evident at the age of 30.

A link to a Youtube video with Dr Phillip May discussing his latest research with general population studies in schools to determine the prevalence of FASD. His research shows that FAS affects between two to seven per one thousand and the full spectrum of FASD affects between two to seven percent of entire school populations, which is substantially higher than previous estimates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNSPVOzeRNc

Philip May , is Professor/Senior Research Scientist, Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions (CASAA) and Professor of Family and Community Medicine University New Mexico., He is a highly respected researcher in his field and was a keynote speaker at the 4th International Conference on FASD held in Vancouver in March this year.

The survey is primarily targeted at policy makers and practitioners testing the level of support for the proposed register and the likely content areas that would be most useful. Responses are directed through an anonymous online survey form and will take approximately 5-10 mins to complete. The survey and more information can be accessed via this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/evidence-register.

To enable the results to be considered at a planning workshop in mid November, the distribution and analysis timeframe is unfortunately very short.

If you could complete and submit the online survey by Friday 4 November it would be much appreciated.

The sixth annual conference of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP) will be held in Canterbury, UK between 30-31 May 2012 at the Cathedral Lodge. The event will be hosted by the University of Kent (School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research).

The invited keynote speakers are:
§ Professor Thomas McLellan, University of Pennsylvania (formerly Deputy Director of the US Office for National Drug Contol Policy)
§ Dr Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund and member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.
§ Dr Fiona Measham, University of Lancaster and member of the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs
§ Martin Jelsma, Transnational Institute
The conference will discuss a wide range of drug policy issues, with a particular focus on ‘how can and do empirical studies influence drug policy?. Areas of particular interest include:

· The research-policy interface: e.g. the impact of research evidence on drug policy; The impact of drug policy on the research that is carried out; The influence of empirical work on analytical models of drug use and problems.
· How do we/should we analyse drug policy? e.g. the mutual contribution of different disciplines in studying drug policy (e.g. sociology and economics); reflections on methods that are used in analysis of drug policy; the contribution of network approaches and models in analysing drug policy and its effects.
· Impacts and implications of international policies and events on domestic drug policy: e.g. analysis of the interaction between international policy instruments, and between international and national policies; the effects of international conflicts, treaties and precursor control in influencing drug policy effects; the impacts of drug/crime policy in national/international drug markets;

As per in previous years the conference will be followed (on 1 June 2012) by two half-day workshops on specific aspects of drug policy analysis.

Researchers and/or practitioners interested in contributing papers are encouraged to submit abstracts containing 200-400 words by 1 December 2011. For full details on the call for abstract please see http://www.issdp.org/conferences.php