Addiction remains shrouded in stigma, while the system through which we provide addiction treatment in Australia is fragmented and failing. There’s no better time to address these issues.
This holiday season, be kind to yourself and others as you deal with excessive behaviours, like binge-watching or gaming.
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With the pressures of the holidays, rising COVID-19 rates and social isolation, people can easily fall into addictive-like behaviours. Here are some ways to challenge ourselves and family.
It’s hard to get an accurate picture of how the pandemic has influenced drug use, but initial data suggests treatment services are reporting increased demand.
Josh Ledesma displays safe injection supplies with outreach specialist Rachel Bolton outside the Access Drug User Health Program drop-in center in Cambridge, Massachusetts on March 31, 2020.
Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
From 2021, it will be harder to import e-cigarettes. That protects young people, in particular, who are increasingly being lured into nicotine and tobacco addiction.
From 2021, Australians will no longer be able to buy nicotine-containing e-fluids, without both a prescription and someone licensed to import it for them, raising fears many will go back to smoking.
A pharmacy store in Ogun State, southwest Nigeria.
Photo by Pius Utomi Ekpei /AFP via Getty Images
For many reasons, drug users are shifting from the use of conventional psychoactive drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and heroin to pharmaceutical drugs for non-medical purposes.
Are you drinking more while in lockdown? Here are some things to look out for if you’re concerned about how much alcohol you’re consuming at the moment.
Shopping for wine in Seattle, where many liquor stores are considered “essential businesses.”
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Sales of alcohol have reported jumped by around a quarter as people bulk buy wine, beers and spirits. That could lead to a range of short-term and long-term problems.
Addiction to cocaine is wildly difficult to conquer. But physicians may soon have a new type of gene therapy for patients that makes the drug less alluring.
A drug addict smoking crystal meth on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.
AP photo/Jae C. Hong