Author Archives: James

Drugs, sniffer dogs and music festivals

The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New
South Wales is conducting a study looking at the impact of drug detection
dogs/ sniffer dogs on drug use at outdoor music festivals in NSW. If you
attend outdoor music festivals, are aged 18+ and live in NSW, Australia we
would like you to take part in an online survey. To participate go to:

www.snifferdogsurvey.com.au

The survey is completely anonymous and will take only 10-20 minutes. As
compensation for your time, you will be eligible to win a music voucher.

If you would like more information contact Caitlin Hughes at the University
of New South Wales: (02) 9385 0132 or caitlin.hughes. This
study has received ethics approval: HC13370.

Free training in Cannabis Information and Interventions at UNSW Sydney

FREE IN-HOUSE TRAINING WORKSHOPS AT NCPIC, UNSW, SYDNEY

Limited places are still availablefor free training sessions in Cannabis information and interventions in early 2014. The trainings will be conducted at the UNSW Randwick campus.

Tuesday 21 January 2014, 10am – 4.00pm

Cannabis Everything You Need to Know – the latest evidence-based information about cannabis followed by

Effective Discussions with Young Cannabis Users – Information and strategies for those who work with young people to enhance their skills when dealing with cannabis use and young cannabis users.

Thursday 23 January 2014, 10am – 4.00pm

Cannabis Everything You Need to Know – the latest evidence-based information about cannabis followed by

Quitting Cannabis 1-6* – A comprehensive clinical intervention for practitioners who see clients in a one-on-one setting and wish to deliver a structured intervention to clients who are primarily treatment seekers.

* Pre-Requisite for this training day: Prior-knowledge of CBT/MI and working in core role as a counsellor with clients face to face.

Thursday 30 January 2014, 10am – 4.00pm

Cannabis Everything You Need to Know – the latest evidence-based information about cannabis followed by

ACCU – Adolescent Cannabis Check Up* – A brief clinical intervention for practitioners who see clients in a one-on-one setting and wish to deliver a structured intervention based on Motivational Interviewing techniques and whose clients may be non-treatment seekers.

* Pre-Requisite for this training day: Prior-knowledge of CBT/MI and working in core role as a counsellor with clients face to face.

To book in please email training or telephone John Redmond on 02 9385 0451. These free trainings will be allocated on a first come first served basis and places are limited. For further information about NCPIC trainings including detailed course descriptions please refer to the NCPIC website

http://ncpic.org.au/workforce/alcohol-and-other-drug-workers/training-and-workshops/

Senior academics in health & medicine speak out against trade agreement

MEDIA RELEASE: Public Health Association of Australia

Senior academics in health & medicine speak out against trade agreement

Around fifty senior Australian academics with expertise in public health and medicine have joined forces to express concerns about the current negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). Key decisions will impact on the cost of medicines and health measures that reduce alcohol and tobacco use in Australia. The academics have joined forces to appeal to the Australian Government Health Minister to intervene to protect Australian interests and not to sell out to commercial interests Australia’s sovereign rights to protect health.

“We understand that the twelve countries negotiating the TPPA have set a target to conclude the agreement by the end of 2013. The secrecy of the negotiations makes it is difficult to know what is being discussed – what are they hiding?” asks Professor Heather Yeatman, President of the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA).

The group is deeply concerned that provisions proposed for the TPPA include:
• Intellectual property provisions that would expand patent monopolies, delay the availability of generic medicines and increase the cost of medicines for taxpayers and the public;
• Procedural changes to our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme that would prevent the use of effective pricing mechanisms, create new avenues of appeal and new opportunities for pharmaceutical industry influence over decision making;
• An investor-state dispute settlement clause that will give new rights to foreign corporations (such as tobacco companies) to sue our government in international tribunals over its public health and environmental policies and laws;
• Rules for labelling wine and spirits that could prevent Australia from mandating health warnings on the principal front or back label on an alcohol container; and
• Provisions for proprietary formulas that may limit government’s future options for food labelling.

“We are also concerned about developing countries in our region, particularly the effects the US proposals for intellectual property would have on access to medicines in countries like Vietnam, Malaysia and Peru. Since the text has not been disclosed, we are concerned about provisions that pose risks to public health. There is no opportunity for open scrutiny prior to finalisation,” said Professor Yeatman.

The group is calling on the Australian Government to:
• Reject the extreme proposals of the US for intellectual property and support the efforts of other countries to negotiate provisions that will protect access to medicines;
• Continue to reject provisions that would affect the ability of the PBS to effectively regulate medicine prices, ensure affordable access and obtain value for money;
• Continue to insist on an exemption to the investor-state dispute mechanism; and
• Retain domestic flexibility in all areas of the agreement to protect and promote public health and the environment.

“On 4 December, the Australian Senate made an order for the release of the text of the TPPA before it is signed by Cabinet. We are urging the Government to honour the Senate order and make the text available for public scrutiny well before the TPPA is signed,” said Professor Yeatman.

The full letter to Minister Dutton – signed by 44 senior academics – is available at: www.phaa.net.au

APSAD Media Release – ADCA Funding Withdrawal


MEDIA RELEASE 27 November 2013

Professional body representing alcohol and other drugs sector urges government not to abandon vital services in drastic funding cut

The Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol & other Drugs (APSAD) has expressed strong disappointment at the Commonwealth government’s decision, announced yesterday, to discontinue funding for the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA).

APSAD is the Asia Pacific’s leading multidisciplinary organisation for professionals involved in the alcohol and other drug field including health professionals, researchers and frontline clinicians from major universities, research institutes, treatment facilities and healthcare agencies.

APSAD President Dr Rose Neild said the news of ADCA’s de-funding and voluntary administration was an unwelcome shock to the sector.

“As the peak national body for non-governmental agencies working to reduce problems from alcohol and other drugs, ADCA played an important role in bringing the experience and knowledge of agencies and professionals to bear on treatment and prevention policies and their implementation across Australia,” Dr Neild said.

“ADCA’s National Drug Sector Information Service, run with resources from the federal government, has been the primary resource for agencies and workers in the field concerning the relevant clinical and research literatures which form the basis of evidence-based practice and policy.

“APSAD considers that these two functions must continue to be filled, and urges the Commonwealth government to continue to provide resources for these functions.”

News of the government’s decision came as 500 alcohol and other drug experts from around the country and overseas gather in Brisbane at APSAD 2013, Australasia’s largest and most comprehensive annual summit on alcohol and other drugs.

APSAD is dedicated to increasing the profile of the issues related to the use of alcohol and other drugs, through the dissemination of information from the wide range of professions involved in this field. In addition, we strive to promote improved standards in clinical practice and in research into this and allied subjects. It also provides a network of drug and alcohol professionals in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific.

APSAD is committed to:

FFLDR on ADCA De-funding

Press release from Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform:

Abbott Government fails first test on drug policy

The Abbott Government, with no consultation or explanation has recklessly defunded the peak body, the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA)

“Axing all funding for ADCA without consultation and in pursuit of a false claim of fixing the debt shows up the Federal Government as unprincipled and evidence free”, said Brian McConnell, President of Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform. “This peak body provides the best evidence based advice and guidance to all drug and alcohol service providers throughout Australia. It has also provided that advice to past governments. This Government may not like unbiased reliable advice but the service providers have found it to be invaluable for the provision of their services.”

“The loss of central coordination that follows this ill-advised cut will be a severe blow to all who are seeking help for their problematic drug use. It will mean that service providers will follow their own random paths and not apply best practice. The end result will be adverse social consequences for their clients and that will cost future governments dearly and will run contrary to the agreed harm minimisation policy of all Australian Governments.”

“Financial cuts to this peak body that provides high quality policy advice, resources and guidance will ultimately affect the standard of services provided especially to those who most need the services – the poor, the homeless, the socially marginalised, and the indigenous.”

“ADCA was established in 1966 and has been a well-respected by all governments since that time.  To defund so swiftly and without explanation is incorrigible”, said Brian McConnell. “And the annual Drug Action Week organised throughout Australia by ADCA has provided an excellent week for the AOD sector to publicise its services to the public”.

Without this organisation those in the AOD sector will be left floundering for information and support.

Mr McConnell urged the federal government to reconsider this poor short-sighted decision.

 

 

ADCA Defunded By Abbott Government

Here on the Drug Blog we don’t usually get overtly political in regard to Governments, but here’s an appalling example of the current Commonwealth Government’s approach:

ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA (ADCA) (Administrator Appointed) DEFUNDED

Funding for the Alcohol and other Drugs Council (ADCA), the national peak body representing organisations and workers in the sector, has been axed by the assistant Minister for Health, Senator Fiona Nash.

ADCA was notified yesterday of the decision to cut core funding for its day to day operations and individual projects; this prompted an emergency meeting of the ADCA Board last night where directors unanimously agreed to put the organisation into voluntary administration.

ADCA has been funded continuously as the national peak for nearly half a century. As the latest casualty in the new coalition government’s austerity drive, the impact of this decision will be felt across the community according to the organisation’s patron, Professor Ian Webster AO. “In 46 years, this is the only government that has decided it can do without ADCA’s advice,” Professor Webster said.

Governments of all persuasions have for years approached ADCA for advice on alcohol and other drug (AOD) matters, trusting its reputation as a reliable, balanced source. While such advice may not have always been palatable to them, it has always been unbiased and evidence based.

“The government’s decision is a devastating blow to the sector and undermines years of work to minimise alcohol and other drug-related harm across the Australian community. It effectively erases decades of corporate knowledge – and leaves the sector without representation at a national level,” ADCA Chair Dr Mal Washer said.

ADCA’s National Drug Sector Information Service, a repository of nearly 100,000 AOD resources, will effectively shut down as a result.

“This is one of the world’s most comprehensive AOD library services which has been accessed for years by other libraries and individuals worldwide. Its contribution to clinical practice and professional development is inestimable,” according to ADCA Vice President Professor Alison Ritter.

Other projects and services affected by the funding cut include:

  • Drug Action Week, which for 16 years has allowed communities Australia wide to raise awareness and commemorate those working to reduce AOD harm – and the associated National Drug and Alcohol Awards
  • The National Inhalants Information Service, the first central online information source for volatile substance misuse
  • The Register of Australian Drug and Alcohol Research and,
  • Drugfields, a new project designed to encourage and support workforce development.

“Each of these is highly significant to research, awareness and the sector’s future workforce,” Ian Webster said. “Workforce sustainability must rank as one of the most important issues of our time – regardless of the sector.”

“The government needs to reconsider its shortsighted decision. Every day, media outlets are full of stories of AOD related violence, crime, the disadvantaged, homelessness and poverty. The cost to the community is crippling, yet governments seem oblivious to it.

“One major group affected by serious AOD-related harm is our first Australians. The Prime Minister wants to be a Prime Minister for Aboriginal Australia. He needs to understand how this decision will further alienate the peoples he claims he wants to represent,” Professor Webster said.

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Update:

1. Here’s ADCA’s patron, Prof Ian Webster, on the decision – link.

2. Story in the Herald Sun

3. Sky News story