Current Issues - a collection of articles on the most current issues.
- Afghan Heroin Global Threat - Afghanistan remains by far the largest source of the global illicit trade in opium and heroin according to the United Nations.
- Ambulance Callout For Drugs - Ambulance callouts for illicit drug emergencies for 2009/10 in Victoria amounted to more than 4000 incidents.
- An Injecting Centre Alternative - Identified illicit drug users should be directed into court supervised drug rehabilitation that gets users off drugs quickly and permanently.
- Baby Drug Harm - A new scientific study into the harm to unborn babies of a mother’s use of illicit drugs shows that the harm to the baby extends into adulthood.
- Drug Addicted Mothers - Over half of addicted babies exposed to buprenorphine and 80 per cent of babies exposed to methadone have needed treatment for withdrawal.
- Drug Availability - The latest Australian national drug survey shows that illicit drugs are readily available in Australia.
- Drug Driving Increasing - A Monash University study of 3398 drivers killed in NSW, Victoria and WA between 1990 and 1999 published in the Journal of Forensic Science International found drugs other than alcohol were present in a whopping 26.7% of cases. And that figure is climbing.
- Drug Intoxication Demand Reduction - The key drug policy principle is not to allow intoxication to become prevalent in the community by reducing demand.
- Drug Intoxication Supply Principles - Governments and law enforcement agencies must protect the users from the unknown effects of chemical drug substitutes.
- Drug Use Up - The latest Australian national drug survey shows that the proportion of people over 14 years of age that had ever tried an illicit drug has INCREASED in the past 3 years.
- Drugs Link To Parkinsons Disease - A new study by Canada’s largest mental health and addiction hospital has found a link between drug use and Parkinson’s disease.
- Ex Prisoners Drug Deaths - A study of ex prisoners released from prison shows that many die from drug overdoses within one month or one year of release.
- First Drug Use Ages - The latest Australian national drug survey shows that the average of first use of cannabis for those Australians that have ever used an illicit drug is 18.5 years.
- Gateway Drugs - A new study suggests that abuse of prescription opioids may be a first step on the path toward injecting illicit drugs like heroin.
- Health Harms Of Drugs - The British Government has recently published an up to date analysis of the health harms of drugs.
- Illicit Drug Acceptance - For illicit drugs the harms include death, addiction, increased tolerance and mental health problems.
- Keeping Drugs Illegal - The latest Australian national drug survey shows that for Australians aged 14 years and older that had been offered illicit drugs, a large proportion accepted the offer and used the drug.
- No To Drug Use - The 2010 National Drug Strategy Household survey indicates that Australian’s do not approve of regular use of illicit drugs.
- No To Legal Drugs - The latest Australian national drug survey shows that most Australians oppose legal illicit drugs.
- Protecting Children From Drugs - The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child mandates governments to protect children from drug use.
- Recent Drug Use - The latest Australian national drug survey shows that 1 in 8 Australians over the age of 14 have used an illicit drug in the previous year.
- State Drug Use - The latest Australian national drug survey shows that in general a higher proportion of people living in the Northern Territory had used cannabis in the last 12 months compared to other states and territories.
- New Cannabis link to Schizophrenia - A new Australian study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal involving 20,000 patients and 80 international studies has confirmed the link of cannabis use and early onset psychosis.
- Toxic Drug Laboratories - New South Wales police have located a record number of illicit drug laboratories used to manufacture drugs like speed, ecstasy and ICE.
