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The 2024 NCCRED Symposium will discuss innovations within the alcohol and other drug sector which aim to improve the health outcomes for people who use methamphetamine and emerging drugs of concern.
Some key themes of the symposia include:
NCCRED’s 2024 symposium is a way to connect around with like minded-individuals to hear about new ways to reduce the harms from methamphetamine and other drugs of emerging concern to Australia.
The symposium is a hybrid event, so you have the opportunity to join us in person at the State Library of New South Wales or online via Zoom. There will also be a networking event after the Symposium for a limited amount of people so get in early and secure your spot
10:00am | Opening
Dr Ingrid van Beek, NCCRED Board Chair |
10:05am | Welcome to Country
Uncle Michael West, Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council |
10:15am | Keynote Address: Risk communication of drug threats: a European perspective
Professor Harry Sumnall, Professor of Substance Use, School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, UK |
10:55am | Recorded Spotlight Presentation: What’s on the RADAR? Reporting to Scotland’s drugs early warning system
Vicki Craik, Intelligence Advisor, Public Health Scotland |
11:15am | NCCRED & AIVL – Designing and Implementing an Anecdotal Reporting System for Emerging Drugs of Concern
Jess Doumany, Research Lead, Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL) & Dr Jack Freestone, Postdoctoral Fellow, NCCRED |
11:25am | Three-years of comprehensive toxicology testing in sentinel Australian emergency departments: findings, learnings, future forecasting
Dr Jennifer Smith, Senior Research Fellow & EDNA National Coordinator, School of Medicine, University of Western Australia | Centre for Clinical Research in Emergency Medicine |
11:35am | Emerging trends in drug use, harms, and markets: Findings from Drug Trends 2024
Dr Rachel Sutherland, Senior Research Fellow, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), UNSW |
11:45am | Coordinating National Information Sharing on Emerging Drugs through the Prompt Response Network (PRN)
Ed Broadbent, Project Manager (PRN), NCCRED, UNSW |
1:00pm | Keynote Address: High Alert: New Zealand’s drug early warning system at work
Dr Lucy Stiles, Analyst, Drug Information and Alert Aotearoa New Zealand (DIANZ), National Drug Intelligence Bureau (NDIB) & Cam Trueman, Analyst DIANZ, NDIB |
1:40pm | Panel Discussion: challenges and opportunities for prompt response systems
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2:50pm | iMPACT – a new internet delivered cognitive behavioural therapy program for people who use methamphetamine
Dora Karavasilis, Knowledge Translation Lead, NCCRED, UNSW |
3:00pm | The S-Check App: a mobile app to track the impacts of methamphetamine use
Seb Baird, Digital Product Manager, NCCRED, UNSW & Dr Krista Siefried, Clinical Research Lead, NCCRED, UNSW |
3:10pm | Wada Wanti: Leave the Ice Alone – Incorporating a web-app into a community run alcohol and other drug support service – the importance of peer workers
Josh Callis, Alcohol and Other Drug Peer Support Worker, West Coast Youth and Community Services (WCYCS) & A/Prof Rachel Reilly, Program Lead, Social and Emotional Wellbeing Research, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) |
3:20pm | Panel Discussion: digital health equity – possibilities for AOD treatment
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This presentation will summarise work developed on behalf of the Trans-European Drug Information Network (TEDI) of drug checking organisations in Europe. It will discuss recently published guidelines for the development of strategies for public communication of drug related threats for drug checking services, as well as how these can be adapted to more formal drug intelligence and alert systems. The talk will highlight the importance of understanding how target audiences perceive and respond to drug-related risks, the critical role of trust and credibility (and how these can be easily lost), and how theories and frameworks developed in other fields can be used to inform work in the drugs field. Risk communication activities provide a means to collaborate with, and learn from people who use drugs in order to provide more responsive and engaging services, but must be embedded within a whole system response to reducing drug related harms. Examples will be provided of successful, and not so successful, communications.
High Alert is Aotearoa New Zealand’s drug early warning system. Since its launch in June 2020, High Alert has issued 30 public notifications and alerts warning of high-risk substances present in the drug market. Notifications have been issued across the country and related to many classes of substance including synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones high potency synthetic opioids. High Alert also supports network partners by providing information on developing drug trends.
High Alert is housed within the National Drug Intelligence Bureau (NDIB), a joint agency made up of representatives from New Zealand Police, the Ministry of Health and New Zealand Customs Service, allowing the team to access a wide variety of data sources to support our work. High Alert is also supported by a network of health professionals and social services (both Government and Non-Government Organisations), all working together to reduce acute drug harm.
A core function of High Alert is to gather and analyse data from a variety of sources, including police data, customs seizures, ambulance incidence data, drug checking services and public submissions in order to monitor drug trends and understand the illicit drug environment. If a situation of concern is identified a risk assessment is used to identify if further actions need to be taken. When something is identified that poses significant harm to people who use drugs High Alert issue public notifications warning of the risk.
Since launching in 2022, RADAR has collected over 400 reports from services and the public to enhance our understanding of drug trends and harms in Scotland. This presentation describes the pros and cons of using real-time anecdotal reports (alongside harm and toxicology data) to provide more rapid and appropriate responses to trends, new drugs, adverse effects and overdose clusters.
National Centre for Clinical
Research on Emerging Drugs
We would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this country
and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.