(A commentary) The issues of children and young people who use drugs, parental drug use, and children’s involvement in the drug trade are many and extremely complex. No one paper can do justice to these complexities. But our analysis of article 33 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) may be summarised
Our children must be able to grow up nourished and supported in loving and caring environments. They must have time to be children with all the wonder, happiness and innocence that childhood should bring. Over recent years the reported levels of child neglect and abuse in Australia have increased at an alarming rate. Child abuse
Australia’s children deserve a safe, healthy and happy childhood. Read More »
Addiction science has undergone tremendous progress over the past five decades, transforming our understanding of drugs and their impact on the brain and society. Recent advancements offer hope in addressing the escalating challenges of drug use, addiction, and overdose. However, the need for evidence-based prevention and treatment strategies remains crucial in combating this ongoing public
Breakthroughs in Addiction Science Over 50 Years – Prevention is the Priority Read More »
Abstract: This brief paper is a synoptic review of key implications of the pro-drug lobby’s decriminalisation reform endeavours. Specifically it looks at: what constitutes ‘normalisation’; what it affirms; and some of the debilitating consequences of the strategy of ‘normalisation’ of drug use. It also questions the legitimacy of this position in the light of
‘Drug checking’, just like pill testing, is premised on the demonstrably incorrect inference that most drug-related deaths are tied to either unknown purity of drugs bought from criminals, or deadly contaminants or other toxic drugs mixed in with such purchased drugs. For decades now, the same parties now requesting substantial government funding for ‘drug checking’
The spurious basis for ‘Drug checking’ in the words of official government documents Read More »
SUMMARY: Australian youth harm minimisation drug policies increased substance use and harm and were inferior to American abstinence polices. When Australia adopted abstinence polices, substance use and harm reduced Professor John Toumbourou, Deakin University. View PDF
Firstly, no credible individual on the planet concedes that recovery is better than prevention – However, prevention is always – always better than cure. Three major demographics that must not only be considered but given highest priority in all drug policy and drug policy interpretations. This better status of prevention is so because it considers
Why Prevention Matters and to Whom Read More »
Here’s a sobering thought: While your average recreational substance user is busy defending their “harmless fun,” approximately 8.7 million children in the United States alone are living in households where at least one parent struggles with substance use disorder. That’s right – one in eight children under 17 are watching their childhood disappear into
Parental ‘Recreational’ Substance Use – The Traumatic Ripple Effect on Children Read More »
In what might go down as the most expensive experiment in missing the point, Australia’s decades-long dance with harm reduction policies has produced results that would be laughable if they weren’t so tragic. New data reveals a sobering reality: whenever harm reduction takes centre stage, drug-related deaths perform their own tragic encore. Historical Context: Australia’s
The fentanyl crisis has emerged as one of America’s most pressing public health emergencies, with devastating consequences that touch every corner of society. Only ‘layering’ up on the worst opioid addiction disaster (arguably) in US history. In a shocking revelation of the crisis’s scope, fatal drug poisonings reached a record 111,451 in the 12 months
