Abstract
In this paper Moore & Dietze use data from their study of street-based injecting drug users and sex workers in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda to challenge the dominant emphasis of drug policy in Australia. They remind us that while existing harm reduction strategies that encourage individual behaviour change should be continued, these measures need to be complemented and extended by further attention to the environmental aspects of drug-related harm. This is a timely call. Responses targeting individual behaviour change are relatively easy to implement and less politically challenging. However, if we are really serious about reducing drug-related harm in the Australian community, then broader systemic and structural barriers which undermine these efforts must be addressed.
Simon Lenton
Editor, Harm Reduction Digest
D. Moore PhD, Senior Research Fellow, National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia, P. Dietze PhD, Associate Professor and VicHealth Public Health Research Fellow, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre and Monash Institute of Health Services Research, Melbourne, Australia. Correspondence to Dr David Moore, National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth WA 6845, Australia. Tel: 08 9266 1616; Fax: 08 9266 1611; E-mail: [email protected]
D. Moore PhD, Senior Research Fellow, National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia, P. Dietze PhD, Associate Professor and VicHealth Public Health Research Fellow, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre and Monash Institute of Health Services Research, Melbourne, Australia. Correspondence to Dr David Moore, National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth WA 6845, Australia. Tel: 08 9266 1616; Fax: 08 9266 1611; E-mail: [email protected]
