Drug use and harm in rural Australia: Establishing a Rural Drug Monitoring System

Transcription

1 Drug use and harm in rural Australia: Establishing a Rural Drug Monitoring System Dr Jennifer Johnston Research Fellow SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Funding to attend NRHC 2015 from University Centre for Rural Health (North Coast) and School of Public Health, University of Sydney

2 Ice epidemic

3 Patterns of drug use Drug use and markets - Methamphetamine (including ice ) - Pharmaceutical drugs Drug markets - Methamphetamine versus heroin - Pharmaceutical drugs

4 Risk behaviours and treatment utilisation Injecting risk behaviours - Access/confidentiality issues - High levels of sharing Treatment utilisation - Methamphetamine treatment presentations - Complex clinical needs - Barriers including access/confidentiality issues

5 What is needed? Drug use patterns and related issues facing rural communities - accurate and timely information - changes over time - heterogeneity of rural Australia

6 Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) Ecstasy and related Drug Reporting System (EDRS) Collect annual data on trends in illicit drug use capital cities - IDRS heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and cannabis - EDRS party drugs (ecstasy, ketamine and GHB)

7 Interviews with key informants Existing indicators of drug-related issues Survey of sentinel populations of drug users Triangulation of data

8 8

9 Rural Drug Monitoring System: Feasibility study (NNSWLHD) Illicit drug markets Patterns of use Harms Feasibility

10 Establishing a national Rural Drug Monitoring System Multiple data sources Multiple locations - Research expertise and local engagement Outcomes - Accurate and comprehensive information - Enable timely and appropriate responses

11 No evidence of ice epidemic Not new people using Shift from speed to ice Methamphetamine purer and cheaper Ice use associated with more harms Users ageing (not necessarily young people) Clinical and policy implications All metro data what s happening in rural Australia?

12 Any questions or comments? Thank you (02)

13 References Aitken et al. (1999) Injecting drug use and blood-borne viruses: A comparison of rural and urban Victoria, Drug and Alcohol Review, 18, Berends (2010) The emergence of a specialist role in rural alcohol and drug service delivery: Lessons from a review in rural Victoria, Australia. Drugs: education, prevention and policy, 17(5), Coomber et al. (2011). Rural adolescent alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use: A comparison of students on Victoria, Australia and Washington State, United States. The Journal of Rural Health, 27, Day et al. (2006) Patterns of drug use and associate harms among rural injecting drug users: Comparisons with metropolitan injecting drug users. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 14, Entwistle & Burns (2014) New South Wales Trends in Ecstasy and Related Drug Markets 2013: Findings from the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS). Australian Drug Trend Series No Sydney, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales. Helliwell et al. (1992) Establishing a drug and alcohol services in an Australian rural area. Drug and Alcohol Review, 11, Kuo et al (2014) A drug survey among clients of harm reduction sites across British Columbia, Canada, Harm Reduction Journal, 11, 13. Lawrinson et al (2006) Regional difference in injecting practices and other substance use-related behaviour among entrants into opioid maintenance pharmacotherapy treatment in NSW, Australia. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 82, Suppl. 1, S95-S102. Lim et al (2015) Ice epidemic? Trends in methamphetamine use from three Victorian surveillance systems. Australian and NZ Journal of Public Health, 39 (2), McKetin et al (2005) The characteristics of treatment provided for amphetamine use in New South Wales, Australia. Drug and Alcohol Review, 24, Miller et al. (2010) Review of rural and regional alcohol research in Australia. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 18, Roxburgh et al. (2013) Patterns of alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use and related harm in city, regional and remote areas of Australia. International Journal of Drug Policy, 24, Stafford & Burns. (2014) Australian Drug Trends 2013: Findings from the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) Australian Drug Trend Series No Sydney, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Australia Wallace et al., (2009) Methamphetamine use, dependence and treatment access in rural and regional North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Drug and Alcohol Review, 28,