Priority Area 1: Community awareness and understanding of amphetamine-type stimulant use and related problems

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Priority Area 1: Community awareness and understanding of amphetamine-type stimulant use and related problems
Priority Area 2: The supply of amphetamine-type stimulants
Priority Area 3: The use of amphetamine-type stimulants
Priority Area 4: Problems associated with amphetamine-type stimulant use
Priority Area 5: Organisational and system capacity to prevent and respond to amphetamine-type stimulant problems

Objective

Increase the Australian community’s knowledge about amphetamine-type stimulants and raise awareness of the problems associated with their production and use.

Rationale

Within the broad community, many people affected by ATS use and those with responsibility for preventing and responding to ATS problems, have a lack of understanding and awareness of patterns of ATS use and related problems. During the consultations, it was suggested that some members of the community and some current consumers had limited knowledge about many of the risks associated with ATS use. For example, it was believed that a significant number of ATS consumers underestimated the risks of mental health problems, infectious diseases and the impact of ATS use on other people. The relatively recent emergence of evidence about some adverse consequences of ATS use has also contributed to this problem.

There are diverse patterns of ATS use, modes of administration and related problems and these patterns can change over time. For example, there are likely to be differences in the patterns of use, mode of administration, context of use and associated problems experienced among Indigenous people living in a major metropolitan region, youth in the dance scene and people working in the transport industry. Accordingly, a large number of participants believed that it was important to build and consolidate existing information about ATS use and related problems, and to ensure that policy makers, law enforcement, health, and education staff are accurately informed about patterns of ATS use and related problems in a timely manner.

The diversity in patterns of use indicates that information dissemination strategies should be tailored to meet the needs of specific target groups, including parents and families, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, young people and people with mental health problems or to address particular contexts such as entertainment venues or at-risk occupations.

ATS production and use create particular challenges for communities and services. For example, clandestine laboratories create risks for producers and those around them, who may be exposed to toxic substances and dangerous processes; law enforcement and emergency services staff may be challenged by agitated and/or violent behaviour; and treatment services find it difficult to attract and retain ATS users in treatment. The broad community, individual consumers, and professional groups need to be informed about these risks and challenges.

In every consultation, media coverage of ATS use was raised as a significant issue. The media have the potential to disseminate quality information on ATS use and related risks, explain and promote responses by law enforcement and health, and provide information on how to access services. While some participants acknowledged that media coverage had helped raise community awareness about ATS related problems and that the media had an important role to play in any information strategy, unfortunately a considerable amount of recent coverage had not accurately reflected some of the common adverse outcomes of ATS use. In addition, it was observed that some media coverage could inadvertently create interest in ATS use where none previously existed and sometimes can ‘normalise’ or ‘glamorise’ ATS use. Poor quality media coverage can also stigmatise and marginalise consumers, and thus create barriers to delivering effective prevention and treatment programs. Therefore, media guidelines on reporting about drug use in general and ATS use in particular are required.

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Recommended actions

i) Consolidate the current knowledge of patterns of ATS use and identify awareness of the risks of ATS use among the broad community and high-risk groups

Support the coordination and dissemination of information updates on ATS use and related problems from a variety of existing data sources, including:

Annual Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) Survey;
Australian School Survey on Alcohol and Drugs (ASSAD);
Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA);
Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS);
Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS);
National crime statistics;
National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS);
National Illicit Drug Indicators Project (NIDIP); and
National Minimum Data Set (NMDS).

Identify current patterns of ATS use in the broad community and in high-risk target groups and contexts. Where required, support additional epidemiological and criminological research to provide quality information about current and changing patterns of ATS use and problems, across the community and with high-risk target groups and contexts of use. Coordinate the dissemination of the data in a meaningful way for a variety of stakeholders (e.g., the community; law enforcement; court officers; health staff).

Ensure that quality forensic information is available about the particular risks associated with various changing illicit ATS formulations. This will require developing methods, and capacity, to provide up-to-date analysis of locally available illicit ATS. Where emerging threats are identified, communicate these to law enforcement, health services and high-risk target groups.

Through population surveys and other data sets, benchmark community understanding of the physical, mental health and other effects of ATS use and attitudes towards ATS use. Identify the understanding of particular at-risk groups through targeted surveys (e.g., those in occupations with higher rates of use; school children in years 10-12; those in 20-29 age range; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people). Use these results to review existing resources and where necessary develop a range of new broad community and targeted information resources to raise awareness of the risks and problems associated with ATS use, especially targeting contexts and groups that are at high risk for use and related problems. When developing resources, consideration should be given to electronic production that allows adaptation to diverse regions and reduces duplication of effort.

Ensure that information about ATS use and related problems is summarised and available to key decision and policy-makers such as members of the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy, the Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs, the Australian National Council on Drugs, the Ministerial Advisory Council on HIV, Sexual Health and Hepatitis, senior health, education, law enforcement staff and members of the judiciary.

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ii) Use social marketing programs and targeted strategies to raise awareness of the risks associated with ATS use

Develop, trial and implement evidence-based social marketing strategies for the whole community and targeted strategies for at-risk groups or contexts of use. These will need to be designed to be sensitive (in terms of cultural security, literacy levels and appeal) to the needs and contexts of different target groups (such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; young people in the school system; young people in post-secondary education; entertainment venues; the workplace). Strategies will include:

Broad social marketing campaigns for the whole community;
Targeted information to at-risk groups or in high risk settings, using a variety of media (e.g., printed materials; Internet strategies; mobile phone technology; targeted venue advertising; media specifically developed by and communicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people); and
Workforce development and resources for key personnel who are engaged in information transfer and advice (e.g., Occupational Safety and Health Staff; Employee Assistance Program staff; law enforcement staff; juvenile justice staff; community health staff; teachers and school counsellors).

The strategies should be designed and targeted to avoid unintended consequences, such as inadvertently glamorising or normalising use, creating interest in use where none previously existed, stigmatising or marginalising current users, or diverting consumers to higher-risk patterns of use. The content should focus on:

The social unacceptability of and illegal status of ATS use, supply and distribution;
The legal consequences of supply, including supplying to friends and acquaintances;
The risks of ingesting drugs containing unknown chemicals and the risks associated with known additives;
The mental health risks associated with ATS use;
The physical health risks associated with ATS use;
Particular high-risk contexts of use, and legal consequences of using in such contexts, such as driving and/or working whilst impaired through intoxication and ‘comedown’ effects;
The risks of combining ATS with other drugs, including alcohol;
The risks of ATS use for families and the broader community;
The risks for children where parents/carers are ATS consumers;
The risks associated with clandestine laboratories, including risks for people involved in production, people in the immediate vicinity, the broader community, and those services (e.g., law enforcement; local government) responsible for disrupting such laboratories and re-mediating sites; and
Treatment options and how to access treatment.

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Develop strategies and distribute specific resources for parents/families/carers to inform them about:

The effects of ATS;
How they can provide support to their children to prevent ATS use;
How they can provide support to children or a family member who uses ATS;
How to access help for their children or family member; and
How they can access support for their own needs.

Develop media guidelines on reporting on illicit drug use in general, and ATS use and related problems in particular. Liaise with key media organisations to ensure their cooperation and adoption of the guidelines. Educate/inform the media and other key stakeholders about the potentially negative impact of using terminology that may normalise or glamorise use and avoid any reporting that may inadvertently contribute to increased interest in ATS use (for example, provide accurate reporting about prevalence of use) or alternatively contribute to marginalisation of people affected by ATS use. Enhance the capacity of key stakeholders (e.g., law enforcement staff; health staff) to effectively respond to the media.

Ensure that the current Alcohol and Drug Information Services (ADIS), Parent Drug Information Services and on-line information services (e.g., Alcohol and Drug Information Network - ADIN) have up-to-date information about the problems associated with ATS use.

Effectively promote these services. For example:

Ensure details about these services (web addresses; telephone numbers) are prominent on all communication/information resources;
Request the media to include details about these services in reports about ATS; and
Cross link websites containing quality drug information with more general websites such as those aimed at young people and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and which address issues such as health, occupational health and, safety and mental health.

Liaise with local governments to facilitate distribution of resources and information. This will include ensuring that information about ATS related problems are available in key sites such as libraries and community services managed by local government.

Ensure that the community is informed about the outcomes of activities under the ATS Strategy. This will require the development of performance indicators and reporting against these in relation to prevention strategies, harm reduction, treatment programs and the activities of law enforcement in diversion and supply reduction.

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