Program

The Scientific Program will focus on evidence, policy and practice and comprises the following:

  • Keynote presentations from National and International invited speakers
  • Symposia on selected topics
  • Concurrent oral sessions
  • Poster sessions
  • Clinical workshops/master classes
  • Social functions
  • Satellite meetings and launches

Keynote Speakers

Call for Abstracts

Abstracts should be submitted no later than Friday, 18 July 2008.

Presentations – Posters & Oral
Abstracts are invited for oral and poster presentations relating to the overall themes of the Conference, focusing on tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use, and within the following topics:

  • Epidemiological studies of drug and alcohol-related harm
  • Intervention approaches including prevention, psychological therapies and pharmacotherapies, and other treatments
  • Demand, harm and supply reduction (including drug law enforcement)
  • Policy, practice and research perspectives and practises
  • Other relevant research studies on different areas of drug, alcohol and tobacco problems are invited

Poster sessions are ideal for highly interactive and intimate presentations of research findings from experts to the Conference audience. For this reason, the 2008 APSAD National Conference Organising Committee will continue the APSAD National Conference approach of actively promoting Poster sessions. A significant proportion of presentations will be posters. During designated times, presenters will stand next to their work to answer questions or discuss the poster with delegates. You will be asked to indicate if you will only be willing to give an oral presentation.

Submissions for presentations must be original and not published, although systematic integrative reviews of evidence are welcome.

New researchers, recent PhD, masters and honours graduates are encouraged to submit presentations for oral and poster sessions. Individuals and organisations representing drug users are also invited to submit abstracts for consideration.

Submit abstract/proposals for these workshops online and but also contact Prof. Richard Mattick no later than 11 July, 2008 at apsad2008@med.unsw.edu.au to allow programming. Early indication of intentions is essential as programme time is limited.

Call for Satellite Meetings and Launches

APSAD conference delegates are involved with a number of other organisations and during the annual APSAD conference satellite meetings are held, for example AGM for the Chapter of Addiction Medicine, Editorial Meeting of the Drug & Alcohol Review Editorial Board, and the Reckitt-Benckiser Buprenorphine Symposium.

The APSAD Conference has historically been a time to launch new publications or services. We have a limited number of spots for launches and require advice well in advance to enable suitable time allocation. To ensure that these meetings do not overlap, we are happy to schedule them to provide an adequate venue.

If you wish to hold a satellite meeting or launch, please contact Prof. Richard Mattick no later than 15 June 2008 by email: apsad2008@med.unsw.edu.au

Workshops and Symposia

Double Trouble Forum

Date: Sunday, 23 November 2008 (One day Workshop)
$275

Comorbidity between drug and alcohol and mental health continues to be one of the greatest challenges facing our treatment services. Mental health and drug and alcohol services are struggling to find adequate resources and effective treatments.

Australia is at the forefront of both acknowledging and responding to comorbidity.

This one-day forum brings together experts to interactively discuss the latest challenges and responses to these issues. The speakers will focus on the latest research, updates on drug use trends, updates on best practice in service provision, new treatments, perspectives on how national and local policies and strategies can make a difference,

The program will be of particular interest to policy makers, clinicians, and researchers. You will receive many useful ideas to improve your service for this target group, places are limited!

On the day we will focus on:

  • The latest drug trends,
  • Managing amphetamine psychosis,
  • Treatments for anxiety and alcohol disorders

The day includes opportunities for in-depth discussion and exchange of experiences.

National Drug Trends Conference

Date: Sunday, 23 November 2008 (One day Workshop)
Cost: $180
Student Concession/drug user organisation representative: $115

What’s new in illicit drug use in Australia?
The National Drug Trends Conference will present recent findings in illicit drug use, markets and related harms across Australia. Convened by Australia’s largest drug monitoring systems, the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) and the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS), the one day conference will include the first release of the 2008 findings, in addition to discussion of emerging trends in illicit drug use and related issues in Australia.

We are also delighted to announce that there will also be presentations from three distinguished guest speakers, including Prof. Don Weatherburn (Australia), Mr Jeremy Douglas (Austria) and Dr David Caldicott (Australia).

Guest presentations will include:

  • Did the heroin shortage increase amphetamine use? A time series analysis – Prof. Don Weatherburn and Ms Lucy Snowball, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research
  • The global SMART programme: monitoring synthetic drug markets around the world - Mr Jeremy Douglas, UNODC Vienna
  • Monitoring illicit drug related harm: how to reach the data that social survey's can't- Dr David Caldicott, Royal Adelaide Hospital – Dr David Caldicott, Royal Adelaide Hospital

IDRS and EDRS talks will include:

  • Key findings from the 2008 Illicit Drug Reporting System
  • Key findings from the 2008 Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System
  • Is the use of khat an emerging practice among regular ecstasy users in Melbourne?
  • Getting the message: Where do people who inject drugs get information about safer drug use and health?
  • SA EDRS findings: Drug driving, bingeing, gambling and other risk taking behaviours
  • Comparing physical and mental health scores in the Sydney regular drug user surveys

For more information on the IDRS and EDRS visit the NDARC website

Dr Marina Davoli

Dr Marina Davoli

Medical Doctor, Master of Science in Epidemiology, Director of the "Clinical Epidemiology Unit", Department of Epidemiology, Regional Referral Centre, Lazio, Italy
Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Review Group on Drugs and Alcohol
Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction

Experience in:

  • epidemiological studies on prevalence and mortality of drug addicts
  • systematic reviews of effectiveness of interventions for drug addiction
  • management of the editorial process of systematic reviews for the Cochrane Library
  • Teacher in University Master programmes of Epidemiology and Evidence Based Medicine
  • Author and co-author of about 80 scientific publications

Professor Ross Homel

Professor Ross Homel

Ross Homel is Foundation Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, and Director of the University's Strategic Research Program in the Social and Behavioural Sciences. From 2004 till 2007 he was Director of the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance at Griffith, and he also served as Head of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice between 1993 and 96 and in 2002 and 2003. He was editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology from 1992 to 1995, and was a part-time Commissioner of the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission from February 1994 to April 1999.
In 2004 he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and in 2006 was appointed to the Board of the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. In January 2008 was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO). The AO was for "For service to education, particularly in the field of criminology, through research into the causes of crime, early intervention and prevention methods."

Professor Robin Room

Professor Robin Room

Robin Room is an Australian sociologist who worked for many years abroad in alcohol and drug studies in the U.S., Canada, Norway and Sweden. Since 2006, he has been a Professor in the School of Population Health of the University of Melbourne and the Director of the AER Centre for Alcohol Policy Research at Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre. He has worked on social, cultural and epidemiological studies of alcohol, drugs and gambling behaviour and problems, and studies of social responses to alcohol and drug problems and of the effects of policy changes.