Policy and Advocacy: Matters of Substance article

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Earthquake shakes up community clinic

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Until 22 February 2011, Christchurch’s Hepatitis C Community Clinic was housed in a two-storey timber and roughcast building on Lichfield Street in the central city. When the huge earthquake struck, the old building partly collapsed, with one floor toppling one way and the ground floor slumping the other.

A clients view of the Christchurch Hepatitis C Community Clinic

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Richard* says he would not have found out he had hepatitis C if he hadn’t visited the Christchurch Hepatitis C Community Clinic last year.

The little community clinic that could

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Hepatitis C has been called a silent killer. An individual can have the insidious virus for years without realising, until it starts to attack their liver with potentially deadly consequences. An estimated 50,000 people in New Zealand have hepatitis C, and the numbers are expected to increase dramatically. A community clinic has been set up Christchurch as a pilot programme with the aim of tackling the disease head on. Kelly Andrew takes a look at its novel approach.

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Let's get serious

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

When drug addiction hits the news, it’s usually for the wrong reasons. Charlie Sheen trashed a hotel room. Lindsay Lohan’s back in rehab. Sly Stone, at 68, still uses cocaine and lives in a van. Amy Winehouse must have died of an overdose. Clearly something is awry when, instead of discussions about how to address addiction and treat people suffering from it, the media overwhelmingly favours a voyeuristic approach that caricatures the problem as the domain of out-of-control celebrities.

As seen on TV

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Popular culture and the legalisation of drugs.

Just a few years ago, it was almost unthinkable that legalisation of drugs would become a mainstream debate. It has long been thought a political impossibility. Despite the arguments in favour and the continued failure of drug law enforcement policies, many in positions of power felt the public just wasn’t ready for such a discussion. But if popular television shows are any form of public barometer, this may be beginning to change, writes Hamish McKenzie.

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Searching for solutions - an interview with Tom Mclellan

An interview with Tom McLellan

In early September, Professor Tom McLellan was in New Zealand to speak at both the Cutting Edge Addiction Treatment Conference, and the Drug Policy Symposium organised by the Drug Foundation and the NZ Society on Alcohol and Drug Dependence.

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tom and peter dunn

Poet in motion - one man's struggle for change in Mexico

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Javier Sicilia has suddenly become the face of Mexico’s grief. His 24-year-old son, Juan Fransisco, found bound and shot along with six of his friends near the city of Cuernavaca, was another victim of a drug war that has claimed nearly 40,000 Mexican lives. Now, the respected poet, novelist and journalist is doing what he can to make his son’s death count.

Mob Mumzys moving and shaking

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

At the last ALAC conference, six women gave a presentation on what they had done in their Porirua community with ALAC funding – and received a standing ovation. What’s unique and surprising about this is the six were all gang women. Their husbands, brothers or fathers are members of the Mongrel Mob, a group most don’t associate with doing community good. Matters of Substance met the Mumzys and was pleasantly surprised.

Old dogma, new tricks

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Adherence to the creed of prohibition is as strong as ever in many countries. But while the UK is still racked with crushing guilt about the original sin of drugs, New Zealand is now questioning the holy writ of its Drugs Act and edging gradually towards a new prohibitionist atheism. Jeremy Sare compares the two countries’ legislative approaches in the modern drugs era and asks where we should put out faith.

Playing Russian roulette

Hamish McKenzie talks with Dr John Huffman, the inventor of the chemical compounds that underpin controversial ‘herbal highs’ such as Kronic. He finds him a genial man with an easy manner but one also unafraid to dish out withering critiques of those who would profit from peddling chemicals he considers dangerous.