National Amphetamine-Type Stimulant Strategy Background Paper

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The pack included a video, trainers’ notes, overhead transparencies, slides and a participant
workbook. Materials were intended for those in primary health care settings and covered
basic knowledge and attitudes, problems associated with ATS use and withdrawal. The
package was disseminated through a national train-the-trainer workshop and evaluation
concluded that it was an effective and low cost strategy for dissemination and utilisation
of a training package (Allsop et al., 1999).
The ‘From Go to Whoa’ training package was subsequently revised by Turning Point
Alcohol and Drug Centre in Melbourne to bring it up to date with current knowledge on
psychostimulants. In 2007, the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing
provided funding for a national dissemination of this resource to assist in increasing skills
and knowledge on psychostimulants, which will enhance the capacity of a range of workers
to provide appropriate interventions to psychostimulant users.
Another national training program is the ‘Amphetamine Education Resources (AER)
Project’ and the related ‘National Amphetamine Training Package (NATP)’. In 2005/2006,
Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria collaborated to develop the
AER, and by the end of 2006, all states and territories were involved. The resources are
designed to assist Needle and Syringe Programs (NSPs), alcohol and drug workers, and
other frontline workers in the delivery of brief interventions with amphetamine users. The
resources included topic-specific information cards to assist frontline services conducting
brief interventions, a recovery guide for consumers, and a manual for NSP workers and
other healthcare professionals. NATP is delivered by Anex and provides train-the-trainer
courses around the AER across the country. As the context of amphetamine use may
differ across jurisdictions, the NATP was developed to be flexible and able to address
local circumstances.
4.6 Summary
Many of the prevention activities that target illicit drug use in general have relevance for
ATS use (e.g., school drug education; school drug policy; building community and individual
social capital). Unfortunately, while there are a number of activities that aim to specifically
prevent and reduce ATS use and related problems, there is a dearth of quality evaluations
and scientific literature that can attest to the value of many of these strategies.
The Australian Government’s National Drug Strategy includes funding for community
awareness programs as a means of preventing drug use. Prevention and harm reduction
strategies aim to prevent or delay the onset of drug use, protect against associated risks
and reduce associated harms. Prevention strategies include, but are not limited to, mass
media campaigns, school-based activities, peer education, and strategies targeted at
specific groups or behaviours at high risk for drug use and/or related problems.
Mass media campaigns aim to raise awareness and provide information at a broad
population level. Examples include the National Drugs Campaign and in relation to ATS,
the ‘Putting the Brakes on Speed’ campaign. School-based activities are largely designed
to prevent the initiation of drug use and are implemented in the education context. The
Australian Department of Education, Science and Training has developed ‘Principles for
School Drug Education’ to guide such activities, which, for example, have been applied