News
Workplace Snapshot
by Roche, Pidd & Freeman
September 2008
Methamphetamine use among Australian workers and its implications for prevention.
Jump in drug abuse among workers
by Brad Watts
24th March 2008
Illicit-drugs test kit on sale
24th March 2008
The Three Billion Dollar Question for Australian Business
by David Collins, Helen Lapsley and Robert Mark
March 2007
Illicit drugs are a major problem in Australian society, with their cost impacts being felt by individuals, families, businesses and government. The business sector bears a large proportion of these costs.
Recent 2003 estimates show the total cost to Australia of illicit drugs to be at least $6.7 billion. Of that figure, business costs were $3.3 billion (representing almost two per cent of total Australian corporate profits). Drug use-caused reductions in business productivity are estimated to have cost $800 million, through a reduced workforce, and a further $339 million through absenteeism. The costs of reduced on-the-job productivity were also likely to have been substantial, but were not able to be estimated.
Illicit drug use also imposes other costs on the Australian community. The unpaid output of the household sector in 2003 is estimated to have been reduced by $397 million. Drug-attributable crime costs were $3,248 million, while crime attributable to illicit drugs and alcohol used together cost a further $1,310 million. Nearly a quarter of violent crime attracting jail sentences is attributable to illicit drugs alone, or to illicit drugs and alcohol used together.
Health care costs were $74 million (after taking account of the reduction in costs resulting from the premature deaths of drug users). Drug-attributable road crash costs were $612 million, of which approximately 20 per cent were borne by the business sector. Drug use imposes heavy burdens on individuals and on the government sector but the highest burden is borne by the business sector. Businesses will inevitably attempt to pass these costs on, mainly in the form of higher prices.
The illicit drugs market draws resources away from legitimate businesses supplying legal goods and services and paying their fair share of taxes. If illicit drug use were reduced, the business sector would benefit not only from reduced labour costs and a bigger workforce, but also from reduced drug-related property crime and corruption, and higher consumer demand for legally-supplied products. The potential for increased business efficiency could lead to greater export competitiveness, better worker and management rewards, higher profits and higher returns to shareholders.
Download the entire report here (PDF).
Cannabis doubles chance of psychosis
From The Sydney Morning Herald Saturday 28 July 2007
Bellinda Kontominas Medical Reporter
July 28, 2007
PEOPLE who smoke cannabis regularly more than double their risk of developing psychotic illness later in life, according to research that calls for increased awareness of the dangers of the drug.
Researchers found that among all cannabis users, including social and habitual users, the lifetime risk of psychotic illness increased by 41 per cent.
More than one third of Australians over 14 years of age have smoked cannabis, or marijuana, at least once in their life and one in 20 have used the drug in the past week, according to figures on drug use from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Of the 1.8 million Australians who have recently used cannabis, one in six use it every day and a further one in five use it every week.
The study found the increased risk for psychotic illness was relative to the dose. Those who smoked cannabis regularly were at an increased risk of between 50 per cent and 200 per cent of developing schizophrenia and disorders with symptoms including hallucinations or delusions. This also suggested that stopping cannabis use would decrease the risk, said the lead author, Dr Stanley Zammit, a psychiatrist from Cardiff University and Bristol University in Britain.
Previous studies have had trouble unravelling the link between cannabis use and psychotic disorder. Smoking the drug could be a symptom of psychotic illness, rather than a cause, the research found. The researchers re-examined data from 35 international studies on psychotic illness and cannabis use involving more than 100,000 participants. Factors such as pre-existing mental illness, the use of other illicit drugs, IQ and social class were filtered out of the sample to try to isolate the effect of cannabis.
Dr Zammit said there was now sufficient evidence to warn young people that using cannabis could increase their risk of developing psychotic illness later in life, despite a lack of evidence to confirm a cause-and-effect relationship.
The risk was relatively low but significant, he said.
One in 100 people had a chance of developing severe psychotic illness. That risk increased to 1.4 in 100 if they had ever smoked cannabis.
In an accompanying comment, Merete Nordentoft and Carsten Hjorthoej, of the department of Psychiatry at the Copenhagen University Hospital, said cannabis had long been considered a harmless drug and its potential long-term effects on psychosis had been overlooked. "There is a need to warn the public of these dangers, as well as establish treatment to help young, frequent cannabis users," they wrote.
Cannabis accounted for 45 per cent of hospital admissions due to drug-induced psychosis in 2003-04, according to a study published in the Australian Medical Journal. John Saunders, Professor of Alcohol and Drug studies at the University of Queensland, said the latest research strengthened the need for increased education on the dangers of cannabis.
Australia in legal drug abuse crisis
From Sun Herald on Sunday, 22 July 2007
NEARLY half a million Australians are abusing prescription drugs, a leading drug specialist claims.
Professor John Saunders of the University of Queensland said that while illicit street drugs grabbed headlines, the misuse of prescription medicine was the "real drug crisis gripping Australia".
"There are 75,000 regular users of heroin in Australia but this pales in comparison to the 150,000 people abusing prescribed opioids and 300,000 abusing benzodiazepines," he said.
Professor Saunders is a member of the Australian National Council on Drugs and holds a post with the World Health Organisation.
Australia has one of the world's highest rates of prescription drug abuse, he said.
"Benzodiazepines, more commonly known as tranquillisers or sleeping pills, are prescribed by doctors for sleep problems or anxiety.
"A substantial portion of the adult population use benzos to help them sleep, but they can easily develop an addiction. It can take as little as two weeks of regular use to become dependent on the drug."