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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.

What can you do if you're a teacher, a neighbor, a churchgoer, a coach ... and you suspect a child is being impacted by a parent's addiction? This article from NPR provides some tips to support a child who may be impacted by family addiction.

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 is the second in a series of four articles from the Australian Drug Foundation, which explore the social phenomenon of stigma and how it impacts people who use drugs.

Of teenagers in Australia who are drinking alcohol, 41.6% said their parents were the main source of alcohol supply. That’s why DrinkWise created the national It’s okay to say nay campaign.

Illicit drugs are never safe and the impact on your health and life can be harmful. Find out the risks to your health and read the Australian Government's Department of Health and Aged Care's tips for staying safe at events. Discover what you can do as parent or teacher to support teenagers and young people.

Sourced from Positive Choices, this short animation goes through some ideas for how you can say no to your friends without losing face.