Author Archives: James

Australian Drug Blog does the Twitter thing

I’ve got some friends who have been raving about Twitter for nearly a year now, so I’ve taken the plunge.

mach zehnder modulatorHere’s my Twitter profile

I’m hoping to use it as a means of following up stories with more interactive discussion as well as tweeting any new posts on this site. Of course, if your government funded workplace has blocked your access to Twitter or you don’t have web access at all, this may be an after-hours thing. I’d still love to follow you on Twitter if you have an account.

Poll Results: Drug Free Australia’s role in ATOD professional discussion

Back in February, we started a poll on the role of Drug Free Australia in regard to professional email lists such as the ADCA Update list.

dfa_poll2
The final results in and show that there’s some mixed views on the role of non-government lobby groups promoting their objectives in professional forums. Specifically, three quarters of those surveys prefer no such mixing of messages. Let’s start a discussion on this: do scientific and moral approaches work, and if so, when?

The Rudd Government throws the switch to illicit drugs

After a little over a year of running a public campaign around binge drinking, and with the ‘Alco Pops’ legislation still bogged down in the Senate, Health Minister Nicola Roxon has announced the upcoming illicits campaign:

THE HON NICOLA ROXON MP – MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING
MEDIA RELEASE – 19 APRIL 2009

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TARGETS ILLICIT DRUGS

Hard-hitting ads targeting ice, ecstasy and marijuana will be rolled out from today, as part of an $18 million national campaign.

The ads confront young people with the dangers posed by these harmful drugs, and will include print, television, cinema, outdoor advertising and internet ads.

The risks associated with these drugs include:

• Ice users are at risk of drug-induced psychosis which may lead to aggressive and violent behaviour. They also suffer physical problems including damaged teeth, gums and skin lesions, and are at greater risk of stroke, panic attacks, anxiety, and severe depression.

• Ecstasy users are at risk of chronic sleep problems, cracked teeth through grinding, high blood pressure, dehydration, anxiety, nervousness, hallucinations, severe depression, thermal meltdown and death from heart failure.

• Marijuana users are at risk of psychosis (particularly the earlier marijuana use is initiated), increased risk of depression, risky sexual behaviours and chronic respiratory conditions.

The rates of drug use in society are still too high. In 2007, of Australians aged over 14 years, 38.1 per cent had used an illicit drug and one in three had used marijuana. Of Australians aged 20-29 years, 23.9 per cent reported using ecstasy and 16 per cent had used methamphetamines such as ice at least once in their lifetime.

This campaign particularly targets young methamphetamine users by portraying in stark and confronting terms the real harms and risks associated with drugs like ice and ecstasy.

The ads use slightly revised versions of earlier ads, in order to reinforce the message that these drugs are dangerous.

The television commercial Don’t Let Ice Destroy You, was produced under the guidance of expert clinicians, and law enforcement officers were also consulted.

The campaign also directs drug users to important points of support, counselling and treatment services that are available in communities throughout the country.

This campaign is one part of more than $800 million the Government is investing over five years in tackling the scourge of drug abuse.

Further information about the Government’s National Drugs Campaign is available from www.australia.gov.au/drugs or by calling the free national hotline 1800 250 015

Comprehensive strategies can be worthy, but am I alone in worrying whether a broad, mainstream campaign is the best way to target illicit drug users?

UNODC Parody: guerilla warfare or legitimate debate?

An Australian ATOD professional pointed me to a fake UNODC site, which looks nearly identical to the real one. The main difference is that the lead story on the fake site states:

unodc

If the ‘read more’ or any other link is clicked on the fake site, it leads to a page with the following text:

JOBS AND POLITICS BEFORE HEALTH?
In fact Costa has not made a statement supporting these life-saving measures and it is likely that the Political Declaration, which will shape global drug policy for the next ten years will have no reference to harm reduction.
This website is part of a campaign to expose the damage caused by misguided United Nations drugs policy. It is in no way endorsed by the United Nations.
Ten years after the UN based their strategy on the slogan “A drug free world: we can do it!” cocaine production has increased by 20% and opium production by 120%. Despite restrictive drug laws and extraordinary levels of incarceration, drugs remain completely out of control. Efforts to reduce the harm caused by drugs are repeatedly undermined by the UN’s refusal to pursue harm-reduction policies.

Cheap public health measures are easy to deliver and extremely effective in reducing the spread of blood born viruses – particularly HIV – among injecting drug users. What can possibly be wrong with taking practical measures to reduce the harms associated with drug use? The results of denying access to these proven public health measures can no longer be termed ‘unintended consequences’.

During the second week of March 2009 the UN will hold a meeting in Vienna for high-ranking government officials to review the past ten years of global drug control efforts and to adopt a new Political Declaration for the next ten years. We think it is time for:

No more stupid slogans
Replacing dogma with science
A UNODC commitment to save lives through harm reduction
A real improvement in the control of drugs
Dear Mr Costa
It would be nothing less than criminal if all proven public health measures to reduce HIV among injecting drug users were not featured uppermost in the Political Declaration that will arise out of the forthcoming High Level Meeting on drugs to be held in Vienna in March.

If you agree with the above please click here to email Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and copy in his boss Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki Moon.

This is a protest that has had a lot of thought put into it and I imagine technically its been a feat in itself. What are your thoughts – is this a legitimate form of protest?

I tend to believe it is, if no laws are being breached. I imagine some are in this case, as far as use of the UN’s intellectual property. That said, I tend toward supporting actions like this as it’s a way of putting an opposing viewpoint to behemoths like the UN.

Substance Snippet

The Economist (UK) – How to stop the drug wars. “A HUNDRED years ago a group of foreign diplomats gathered in Shanghai for the first-ever international effort to ban trade in a narcotic drug. On February 26th 1909 they agreed to set up the International Opium Commission—just a few decades after Britain had fought a war with China to assert its right to peddle the stuff. Many other bans of mood-altering drugs have followed. In 1998 the UN General Assembly committed member countries to achieving a “drug-free world” and to “eliminating or significantly reducing” the production of opium, cocaine and cannabis by 2008.”

– an incisive analysis of political interference in a health issue

Smoking ‘Smarties’

I’ve run across a rather interesting video that shows a young person demonstrating how to ‘smoke’ what he calls ‘Smarties’. They’re not the chocolate variety Australians know, but this type known as a ‘candy wafer roll’.

The video:

Although it seems a fairly harmless thing, the mimicking of smoking behaviours can’t be desirable. Or could it be a great harm minimisation technique? 😉

The Role of Schools in Alcohol Education

“The National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA) at Flinders University has been commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) to undertake a project to examine the role of schools in alcohol education.

This national project is part of the Government’s “Youth Binge Drinking Initiative”.

The project aims to:
1. Investigate existing research on alcohol education programs aimed at deterring and reducing alcohol use in secondary school students

2. Consult with experts and key stakeholders (e.g. school staff and students, parents of school students) about their experience with
school-based alcohol education programs

3. Provide practical recommendations to DEEWR.

The project comprises:

1. A Call for Submissions ***** [the call for submissions is now open]

Experts in education, alcohol research, law enforcement, policy advisors and health economists, as well as community stakeholders, such
as youth groups, students and parents, will be invited to submit their views on these issues. For details of the submissions process please visit the NCETA website

2. An On-line survey

The on-line survey will be active from Friday 27 February and can be accessed from the NCETA website.

3. A literature review

4. Stakeholder interviews

Face-to-face or telephone interviews will be conducted with school personnel and students from Government, Independent and Catholic schools in each state and territory.

For further details of the project go to www.nceta.flinders.edu.au

If you would like more information about this project please contact the NCETA office.”

Poll: Drug Free Australia on professional email lists

There are a number of email lists for ATOD professionals in Australia. The preeminent one is arguably the ADCA Update list. Over the past year or two, Drug Free Australia has been active in posting articles emphasising an abstinence approach, something that’s riled a number of prominent ATOD professionals on the list.

The issue has escalated to the point that I though it worth posting a poll to see how widespread the objections are to Drug Free Australia’s approach on the email list. Whether ADCA take any notice of the results is up to them – I sympathise with the difficulties in balancing varied debate with claims of overt propaganda. Onto the poll:

As always, feel free to make any further comments below, no matter which side of the fence you are on the issue. If you can’t see the poll above, use this link to vote.

Australian Drug Foundation: survey with prizes

“Help the Australian Drug Foundation by completing a survey about your drug information needs. Not only will this help ADF to develop and improve its services, but you can also enter the draw to win one of five double passes to Hoyts cinemas or one of five $100 vouchers for the ADF bookshop.

The ADF’s mission is to work together to prevent alcohol and other drug problems in communities. One way we try to achieve this is through providing evidence-based information to people who have a professional need for alcohol and other drug information.

During February we are running a survey. The information gained through this survey will help guide the development of ADF’s information services to ensure we are providing the best possible support to professionals who need alcohol and other drug information both now and in the future. We would like to invite anyone in Australia who has a professional need for alcohol and other drug information to complete this survey.

The survey takes approximately 10–20 minutes to complete and is anonymous and confidential. No person will be individually identified.

Everyone who completes the survey can enter the draw for one of the following prizes*:
– One of five double passes to Hoyts cinemas
– One of five $100 vouchers for the ADF bookshop

*Employees of the ADF and their immediate families are ineligible to enter. Limit one entry per person.

The survey will close on Sunday 1 March 2009. “

Coordinator : Pacific HIV & STI Research Centre, Fiji School of Medicine

This is a senior academic position. It will be reporting to the Director of Research, FSMed and supported by University of New South Wales partners.

The position will be based in Suva.

Job Purposemebeli
The Coordinator will have responsibility for establishing, building and managing the Pacific Centre for HIV and STI Research in accordance with the requirements of the funding agreement/s for the Centre.

Key Responsibilities – Please refer to the FSMed website for a detailed Job Description.

Qualifications & Experience

Essential
· Postgraduate degree in Public Health, Sociology or other related discipline.
· Evidence of active HIV, STI or related research interests
· Good understanding of Pacific culture
· Demonstrated success at management of people and organisational resources
· Excellent oral and written communication skills
· Experience in preparing applications for research funding.
Desirable
· PhD in Public Health, Sociology or other related discipline.
· Demonstrated ability to contribute to the research development of early career researchers, and postgraduate and honours students.
· Experience in budgeting for research projects
· Able to work independently and exercise initiative

Salary Range :- Senior Research Fellow 55,708 – 66,000 Fiji dollars p.a.

Application forms are available from our website at www.fsm.ac.fj or from the Human Resources Secretary, FSMed, Brown Street, Suva, Fiji.

Printed, electronic or faxed versions of the completed application forms, your curriculum vitae and certified photocopies of original certificates, together with the names of three professional referees must be received no later than 18th February, 2009 and sent to :-
The Human Resources Manager,
Fiji School of Medicine,
Private Mail Bag,
Suva.