There are many good private alcohol and drug treatment providers, but lack of regulation means some unethical practices are being uncovered. Here’s what you should know about treatment.
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Articles on Drug abuse
Displaying 21 - 40 of 69 articles
The evidence is clear on the sort of support that is needed to reduce the harms of drug use. A punitive approach that denies people a second chance makes it more likely they will reoffend.
A staggering 70 per cent of female inmates are back in prison within two years of their release. Basic health and dental care could help change this, according to new research.
Jeff Sessions was met with considerable skepticism when he announced his desire to revive D.A.R.E. But it turns out that the current program is nothing like the ineffective D.A.R.E. of the ‘80’s and '90’s.
The proportion of population who use legal and illegal drugs has remained stable or trended down. Fewer young people are using, but the proportion of older people using drugs and alcohol has grown.
The proposal to drug test welfare recipients needs to be fine-tuned otherwise the government will be targetting the wrong people and be tied up in legal challenges.
Shalom House calls itself the ‘strictest drug rehabilitation centre in the country’ but evidence of its so-called success is anecdotal at best.
West Australian Labor leader Mark McGowan said his state has the “worst rate of methamphetamine usage in the country”. We asked the experts to check the evidence.
Sia is being sued for what her fans felt was a lacklustre show. But pop history is littered with live disasters.
Media reports have suggested that many young athletes who become injured abuse prescription painkillers and may move to heroin. One of the first studies to look at this suggests otherwise.
The government’s blanket ban on psychoactive substances is all over the place.
A sea change in pain treatment helped create the opioid abuse epidemic, and another sea change in how doctors view chronic pain could help curb it.
Why have the demographics of heroin use changed so much? For that, we can look to dramatic increase in prescriptions for opioid painkillers, such as Oxycontin or Vicodin.
Many untested drug therapies are expensive at best and potentially dangerous at worst. So what treatments do work for ice and other drug users?
Stigma toward heroin use might prevent a lot of people from using the drug, but these attitudes don’t help people who are dependent.
Are addicts sick and helpless victims with little control over their own behaviour, or brazen criminals who deserve to be punished accordingly?
The killing of Phil Walsh is a tragedy for his family and the football community. It should also lead us to question whether we do enough to support families before the issues they face spiral out of control.
There’s a worrying lack of evidence for what works when it comes to drug treatment. And our addiction services are suffering as a result.
New research aims to bring hope to the often forgotten or stigmatised friends and relatives of those who die from drug or alcohol use.
It is unlikely that drug testing in workplaces and at nightclubs will have any discernible impact of rates of use.
Top contributors
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Adjunct Professor at the National Drug Research Institute (Melbourne based), Curtin University
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Emeritus Consultant, St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst
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Associate Professor of Sociology, Bentley University
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Professor, La Trobe University
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Associate professor, La Trobe University
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Associate Professor of Population Health, New York University
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Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Columbia University
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Professor of Law and Public Policy, Queen Mary University of London
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Lecturer, RMIT University
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Assistant Director, Centre for Forensic and Criminological Psychology; Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology, University of Birmingham
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Assistant Research Professor, Sociology, University of Michigan
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Associate Professor in Addiction Medicine, University of Sydney
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Senior Research Fellow, UNSW Sydney
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Research fellow, Lancaster University
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Research associate in sociology, University of Bath
