Drug and alcohol review
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Drug and alcohol review · Dec 2004
Emerging patterns of cannabis and other substance use in Aboriginal communities in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory: a study of two communities.
A recent rise in cannabis use in Indigenous communities in northern Australia may have compounded existing patterns of other substance use. This paper describes these patterns in Arnhem Land in the 'Top End' of the Northern Territory (NT). Economic impacts of the cannabis trade are also described. ⋯ Current cannabis users were more likely than non-users to be also using alcohol (OR = 10.4, 4.7 - 23.3, p < 0.001), tobacco (OR = 19.0, 7.9 - 45.8, p < 0.001) and to have sniffed petrol (OR = 9.1, 4.6 - 18.0, p < 0.001) but were less likely to be using kava (OR = 0.4, 0.2 - 0.9, p < 0.001). Among those interviewed, higher tobacco consumption in current users and greater alcohol use in lifetime users was associated with increased cannabis use. Action is required to reduce cannabis use, especially in combination with other substances.
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Drug and alcohol review · Dec 2004
Editorial Comparative StudyAustralian alcohol policy and the public interest: a brief report card.
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Drug and alcohol review · Dec 2004
Harm reduction and the global drug control regime: contemporary problems and future prospects.
Countries committed to a harm-reduction approach to drugs have exploited the latitude which exists within the UN global drug control regime to implement strategies which deviate from the strict prohibition ethos of the conventions. These nations risk pressure being brought to bear through the UN drug control regime, principally by the United States, determined to prevent what it sees as foreign challenges to its domestic 'zero tolerance' approach and its internationalisation. In this paper, based on his presentation to the International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm in Melbourne this year, David Bewley-Taylor, describes the conventions and the 'wiggle room' which exists, but also imagines ways like-minded states might together challenge and reform the conventions so that harm reduction can be accepted and hard wired into the UN drug control system itself.