DEMAND REDUCTION AND HARM REDUCTION

1 DEMAND REDUCTION AND harm REDUCTIONDr Alex Wodak AM *Working PaperPrepared for the First Meeting of the CommissionGeneva, 24-25 January 2011* Dr Alex Wodak AM is the Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service, St. at Vincent s Hospital, Darlinghurst,NSW 2010, Australia. Summary:Efforts to reduce the DEMAND for illicit drugs through school-based and mass educationcampaigns have been generally disappointing. Benefits have usually been small andtransient. Also, the benefits reported from education have usually only been less positiveattitudes to taking illicit drugs rather than any REDUCTION in consumption, let alone areduction in harms. Methods for improving the effectiveness of drug education have beenidentified but the implementation of drug education is often poor and ignores the methodsusually associated with greater effectiveness. Reducing the DEMAND for drugs througheducation may be cost effective but these modest gains may take some years contrast, there is good evidence that reducing the DEMAND for illicit drugs through drugdependence treatment can be effective at the individual and also the community level.

3 Demand Reduction Prevention of drug use: Demand reduction for illicit drugs includes the primary prevention of drug use and the treatment of drug users seeking help.

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  Reduction, Treatment, Demand, Harm, Demand reduction and harm reduction, The treatment

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