Illicit drug use

The Illicit Drug Use team examines substance use and related harms in vulnerable populations. In particular, it evaluates the influences and improvements to service use and delivery in this area.

 

The program has close connections with NGOs including Uniting Sydney Medical Supervised Injecting Centre and the NSW Alcohol and Drug Foundation and works with these programs to improve client care and outcomes.

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Recent research projects

• Alcohol and other Drugs Outcomes Register (AoDOR): Health Systems Access and Patient Journey

• Substance Use in Pregnancy and Parenting Services Clinical Indicators: Delphi-consensus, Best-Worst scaling, and Pilot Implementation

• Validation and international comparison of the street value of prescription and illicit drugs using Street Rx data

• Examining COVID-19 related changes to delivery of opioid agonist treatment

• The ADM users into treatment (ADMiT) study: linking people who use automatic dispensing machines with the hepatitis c cascade of care

• Suicide prevention project at Uniting Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (Uniting MSIC)

•  Development of a model of care for substance use in pregnancy and parenting for Sydney Local Health District

• Understanding driving-related safety for individuals who receive opioid agonist treatment

• Characteristics and needs of women seeking treatment for substance use disorders in NSW

• Understanding the factors facilitating or hindering utilisation of drug and alcohol services for the Muslim and Arabic speaking community in Sydney

• Evaluation of drug and alcohol services for young people in Sydney including client and practitioner perspectives, cultural competency and the role of agency and aspiration in youth treatment