Drugs and Their Effects
An insight into the pressures young people face can give parents and teachers an understanding of the reasons young people may use drugs and alcohol. This can help in responding in a constructive way. In this factsheet from Positive Choices, you will find some of the reasons young people give for using drugs and alcohol and ideas for starting conversations with them.
What are drugs? How are they made? Why do people choose to use drugs? Learn more in this factsheet from the Australian Government Department of Healthand Aged Care.
Supervised injecting facilities (SIFs) are dedicated spaces where illicit drugs can be used under the watchful eye of health care professionals (particularly nurses), social workers or other trained workers or volunteers. Learn more about them in this fact sheet from the Australian Drug Foundation.
The ADF supports the trial of a medically supervised injecting room (MSIR) in Melbourne’s CBD. Since opening in 2018, the North Richmond MSIR has safely managed over 7,049 overdoses and saved up to 63 lives. Read more about the trial, and the Australian Drug Foundation's position, in this article.
Melbourne’s first Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR) has courted controversy but is estimated to have saved 63 people dying from drug use. Learn more in this article from Al Jazeera.
‘You almost died’: Safe drug use saves lives in Australia
The stigma experienced by people who use alcohol and drugs can be an everyday occurrence, and become ingrained. In time, people can begin to apply this stigma to themselves.
The video from the Government of South Australia shows how self-stigma can become a barrier to recovery from problematic alcohol and drug use.
This factsheet from Cracks in the Ice provides information about how stigma and shame can impact a person who uses crystal methamphetamine 'ice'. Some of the topics covered include:
- What stigma and shame are.
- How these feelings can impact a person.
- How we can reduce stigma and shame in the community.
This factsheet from the Department of Health Tasmania and the Department for Education, Children and Young People Tasmania features example images of vaping devices and important information that parents and teachers need to know.
Life Savers: your one-stop website for information about opioids and opioid dependence. This website provides information about opioid dependence (which may be diagnosed as Opioid Use Disorder or OUD) and about different options for treatment.
Many people are prescribed medications containing opioids for treating pain, often after an injury or surgery. This factsheet from International Overdose Awareness Day discusses opioids as pain medication, and what patients need to know.
Detox@Home is a community based, medically assisted, alcohol withdrawal program. Learn more about this program and how it works directly from the Tasmanian Government Department of Health.
Direct from Positive Choices, this factsheet is perfect for teachers and parents. This page discusses what Kava is, where it comes from, and what effects it has on the body.
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