Drug Trends Conference

2008 NATIONAL DRUG TRENDS CONFERENCE

Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre
9am-3.30pm
Sunday 23rd November 2008


What’s new in illicit drug use in Australia?
The National Drug Trends Conference will present recent findings in illicit drug use, markets and related harms across Australia. Convened by Australia’s largest drug monitoring systems, the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) and the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS), the one day conference will include the first release of the 2008 findings, in addition to discussion of emerging trends in illicit drug use and related issues in Australia.

We are also delighted to announce that there will also be presentations from three distinguished guest speakers, including Prof. Don Weatherburn (Australia), Mr Jeremy Douglas (Austria) and Dr David Caldicott (Australia).

Guest presentations will include

• Did the heroin shortage increase amphetamine use? A time series analysis – Prof. Don Weatherburn and Ms Lucy Snowball, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research
• The global SMART programme: monitoring synthetic drug markets around the world - Mr Jeremy Douglas, UNODC Vienna
• Monitoring illicit drug related harm: how to reach the data that social surveys can't – Dr David Caldicott, Royal Adelaide Hospital

IDRS and EDRS talks will include

• Key findings from the 2008 Illicit Drug Reporting System
• Key findings from the 2008 Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System
• Is the use of khat an emerging practice among regular ecstasy users in Melbourne?
• Getting the message: Where do people who inject drugs get information about safer drug use and health?
• SA EDRS findings: Drug driving, bingeing, gambling and other risk taking behaviours
• Comparing physical and mental health scores in the Sydney regular drug user surveys

Further details on guest speakers:
Prof. Don Weatherburn is Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research in Sydney. He is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Science and Policy at the University of New South Wales.

Ms. Lucy Snowball is a Senior Research Officer at the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. She is currently completing a Masters in Statistics at the University of New South Wales. She has worked on a number of studies in the Bureau, including several dealing with Indigenous contact with the criminal justice system.

Mr. Jeremy Douglas manages the Synthetics Monitoring: Analyses, Reporting and Trends (SMART) program in Vienna. Prior to this he managed the Improving Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS) Data and Information Systems project in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Bangkok office. He is a leading authority on worldwide patterns and trends in ATS.

Dr. David Caldicott is an Emergency Research Fellow at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and holds an academic position at Adelaide University. The founder of the OzTox Collaboration, he has a keen research interest in the area of harm minimisation in relation to ecstasy and related drugs, and the toxicology of emerging illicit compounds.

Registration
The 2008 National Drug Trends Conference is being held in collaboration with the 2008 APSAD Conference.

Registration fee: $180 (Adult)/$115 (student/drug user organisation representative)

Information and registration forms are available on the APSAD conference website (you do not have to register for APSAD to attend the Drug Trends Conference).

The IDRS and EDRS are funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the National Drug Strategy: Australia’s integrated framework 2004-2009