NDARC Monograph No. 27 (1996)
In April 1985, following a special Premier's Conference on drugs, the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NCADA) was established. NCADA aimed to provide a national framework for minimising the harmful consequences of drug use, actively encouraging liaison across all jurisdictions. A major strength of the campaign was that it provided a basis for consultation and cooperation among health, education and law enforcement agencies. Following two reviews in 1988 and 1991 the Campaign evolved into the National Drug Strategy (NDS).
The strategy document described aims, principles and strategies for work in each of four main areas:
- Education and training
- Treatment and rehabilitation
- Research and information
- Controls and enforcement
It is now ten years since the launch of NCADA. To commemorate this anniversary, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) in conjunction with the Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health decided that the 1995 NDARC Annual Symposium should focus on the achievements of NCADA and reflect on the impact this revolutionary campaign has had. The symposium was therefore called National Drug Strategy: The First Ten Years and Beyond.
The two day symposium was held at the Landmark Hotel at Potts Point and invited a variety of speakers from around Australia to reflect on what we have learnt over the past ten years.
The symposium was opened by keynote speakers Professor Jim Rankin, Acting Director of the Drug and Alcohol Directorate and Professor Ian Webster Director of the Division of Public Health, South Western Area Health Service, who gave an overview of the last ten years under the National Campaign and briefly looked towards the future. Following on from this introduction, the two day program was broken up into 10 sessions, each one examining a particular area of the National Drug Strategy. These sessions included the following areas: patterns of drug use, drug-related problems, intensive treatment and intervention and contribution of research to policy.
This monograph contains twenty seven of the papers presented at the Eighth NDARC Annual Symposium, held on November 23-24, 1995.
The papers are presented as provided by the authors. Details of the affiliation of each author are provided and we suggest they be contacted for further information.