Bendigo Community Health Services will host another community drug information workshop in the All Time High series on November 22.
Doctor Monica Barratt from the University of New South Wales will be guest speaker at the workshop with a focus on how technology is being used for the drug market, the arrival of new psychoactive substances and real-time drug monitoring systems.
The All Time High workshop will hosted by our alcohol and other drugs services team and held in the La Trobe Visual Arts Centre in View Street from 1.30pm to 3.30pm on November 22.
The workshop is designed to deliver the latest information to support health professionals, emergency services workers and community members who work with drug users.
Doctor Barratt will discuss emerging issues including:
- The rise of the darkweb in the changing face of how people purchase drugs in Australia.
- The arrival of new psychoactive substances and the laws that govern them.
- The effectiveness of real-time drug monitoring systems for users that operate in other parts of the world and how they could work to remove the most harmful substances from Australian drug markets.
Dr Barratt is a social scientist at the Drug Policy Modelling Program in the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.
Dr Barratt has spent 15 years researching the social and public health implications of digital technology for people who use illicit and psychoactive drugs.
She is an expert in the area of drug policy reform and ‘pill testing’ and other testing procedures that deliver information about the content and purity of drugs to users.
Seating for the workshop is limited. To reserve your place click here
First All Time High serires workshop
The emergence of more than 500 new ‘legal high’ and illicit drugs in six years prompted Bendigo Community Health Services to host a free information event in May 2017 for health professionals working with drug users.
Edith Cowan University senior lecturer of addiction and ethno-pharmacologist Doctor Stephen Bright was guest speaker at the event in the La Trobe University.
The event attracted a ‘full house’ of 90 registrations with people from other health and welfare organisations, emergency services and the general community attending.
Our Director of Continued Health and Independence Dale Hardy said BCHS organised the event after alcohol and other drugs team members noticed a change in the substances being used and how people get them.
“These new drugs deliver great challenges to healthcare and emergency services workers and the general public, so we thought an event delivering the most up-to-date information would benefit the community,” Mr Hardy said.
Dr Bright provided the most recent information on these drugs to improve the knowledge of those in attendance and allow them to educate people they work with, particularly around harm reduction strategies.
An evaluation of the event asked participants what they would do differently after attending with 15 saying they would focus on harm reduction/minimisation, 11 saying they would engage in further research and seven saying they would provide more education to clients or staff.
The success of All Time High in Bendigo helped our organisation receive a Community Ice Action Grant from the State Government to expand the information sessions across Campaspe, Central Goldfields, Macedon Ranges, Mount Alexander, Mildura and Swan Hill.