Charles is currently undertaking a Research Masters at the Burnet Institute, Melbourne, where he also works as a part time Community Engagement Co-ordinator. His MA is focused on examining service user perspectives on the provision of Long-Acting Injectable Buprenorphine (LAIB) within the context of wider Opioid Dependence Treatment Program offerings. Since coming to Australia in 2016, he has enjoyed senior…

Chloe is the Victorian Project Officer for Family Drug Support Australia (FDS) and is responsible for running support groups, community workshops and the FDS flagship program, ‘Stepping Stones to Success’ for families effected by problematic alcohol and drug use. She has a background in case management for people receiving unemployment benefits, is a Board Member of Students for Sensible Drug…

Harm reduction has been proven to be the most effective strategy for addressing the problems of drugs in our society. The scientific evidence and the personal testimonies to its success simply cannot be denied.Old fashioned strategies such as the now universally discredited “war on drugs” have proved to be nothing more than a war on drug-users and the origins of…

I am delighted to lend my support Harm Reduction Australia, having to remind myself that in Australia in the 21st Century, we still have to push for Harm Reduction to hold the place of pre-eminence that it should, in any modern National Drugs Policy. As a simple emergency physician, I see those who object to harm reduction in the same…

Harm Reduction General Practitioner | MD, CCFP, FRACGP. Dr David Gunn is a Canadian-trained GP with 2 decades of clinical experience spanning emergency medicine, inpatient and long-term care, opioid agonist therapy (OAT), and complex general practice. Based in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, he focuses on patients living with chronic pain, trauma, substance use, polypharmacy, and mental health…

David Heilpern was appointed as a Magistrate in 1998, and was at the time the youngest magistrate in Australia. He ‘retired’ in May 2020. He sat in the criminal, mining, family, industrial, coronial and children’s jurisdictions of the Local Court, and was the Senior Civil Magistrate for five years. During his time on the bench, David was the principal educator…

I wandered into the field of addiction medicine as a country GP in Nimbin, NSW in the 1980s. Following an outbreak of Hepatitis B, I established the first rural needle and syringe exchange in NSW. Shortly after I established the first rural methadone clinic in NSW. In 2000 I helped establish Riverlands, a regional drug and alcohol service in Lismore…

Dr David Jacka was appointed Addiction Medicine Specialist at Monash Health in early 2013. He has worked in the area of public health for many years and in Alcohol and Illicit Drug misuse and Harm Reduction since 1993. Between 2006 and 2012 he worked with the World Health Organization as a drug treatment specialist and advisor on HIV prevention programming…

As a Harm Reduction Advocate I am delighted to be part of HRA’s initiative to raise the salience of drug harm reduction in Australia and abroad. Australia’s achievements in harm reduction are commendable. Unfortunately, the strong community support for harm reduction (demonstrated in population surveys) is not adequately matched by the policies, funding priorities and other actions of governments. […]

David Stanley is a public health communications practitioner. David has been involved in more than 110 international, bilateral, national and state public health programs. David is published in policy, program and educational texts – all relating to public health information and education programs. In 1984 David founded Convenience Advertising and developed a narrowcasting communication solution with a strong focus on development and implementation of public and preventative…