Shane Darke

Professor Shane Darke has worked in the field of illicit drug research at NDARC since 1988. His area of research is the harm associated with illicit drug use, with a particular focus on mortality. He has published widely in the area of illicit drug use, including work on opioid overdose, psychostimulant overdose, psychopathology, suicide, trauma, treatment outcome and toxicology, and was among the 250 most cited sociology researchers in the world between 2000-2008, according to Thompson Reuters' Highly Cited Research. He was a senior investigator for the Australian Treatment Outcome Study, the first longitudinal study of outcome for the treatment of heroin dependence among different treatment modalities to be conducted in Australia. He is currently supervising projects on methamphetamine toxicity, methamphetamine and violence, and the toxicology of suicide victims. Professor Darke's research interests include: Heroin overdose, psychopathology and drug dependence, suicide and drug use, and drug-related trauma.
He is the author of The life of the heroin user: Typical beginnings, trajectories and outcomes, First, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, http://www.cambridge.org/aus/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9781107000636