NCJ Number
215492
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 25 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 219-225
Date Published
May 2006
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper presents data on drug-related harms and the social context of drug prevention in the Melbourne Aboriginal Community and then, discusses the implications of this data on the development of a specific harm minimization model and its application in program and policy development.
Abstract
Through the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS), Injecting Drug Use (IDU) Research Project, the Aboriginal community has been able to document its heightened experience of drug-related harm. Appropriate strategies acknowledge the resulting tensions within the community around drug use and create opportunities to actively negotiate around them and manage them. Consequently, it is important to develop strategies which target and involve individual drug users, their families, and the broader Aboriginal community, and to focus on all three of the areas described in the model: encouraging people not to start injecting; protecting the health of those who inject; and providing support and choices to those who inject and want to stop. This model allows the Melbourne Aboriginal community to think more strategically and effectively about the drug issue. This paper presents an Indigenous model of harm minimization that recognizes the particular context of drug use in the Melbourne Aboriginal community and integrates the conflicting values and goals of community members. The paper draws on qualitative data collected in a research project initiated by the VAHS in response to growing concerns within the Melbourne Aboriginal community about the impact of injecting drug use on health and wellbeing. Figure, table, and references