25 Mar 2020

Researchers from four countries in the International Alcohol Control (IAC) study recently met in Dublin with participants in the Global Alcohol Policy conference to discuss their experiences and to encourage new countries to take part.

The group shared a number of benefits of monitoring the alcohol policy environment in each country, such as a greater understanding of local policy environments and how policies are being implemented on the ground. The team at SHORE & Whariki also demonstrated a new online tool for systematic collection of data that can be compared across countries.

To learn more or discuss joining the IAC study, email the team at SHORE & Whariki, who provide guidance and tools for the research. We would like to thank the Turkish Green Crescent Society who sponsored the Dublin event.

19 Mar 2020

Time: Thursday March 12, 2020 – half day 13:00 - 16:00.

Open to all GAPC participants.

Venue: Bedford Hall, Dublin Castle, Dublin 2.

The International Alcohol Control Study (the IAC study) is the first ever international study of alcohol use and alcohol policy relevant behaviours. The overall objective is to measure the impacts of national or state level alcohol control policies. Two tools have been developed as part of the IAC study. One is a general population survey of alcohol consumption and policy relevant behaviour. The second is the Alcohol Environment Protocol (AEP) which provides an online tool to document legislation and impact on the ground of alcohol policies. This latter tool provides a relatively inexpensive way for countries to monitor policy change over time and compare their alcohol policy status with other countries.

The side event aims to present an overview of the findings of the IAC study and discuss their use as evidence to support advocacy for policy change.

20 Feb 2020

In an interview on Newshub, Associate Professor Chris Wilkins explained the reasons behind the reduction in convictions for cannabis-related crimes reported by the Ministry of Justice. Along with a change in police attitudes toward arresting cannabis users, another driver for the decrease in cannabis arrests has been the increasing popularity of harder drugs – especially methamphetamine.

30 Jan 2020

Please check the original article on ”THE CONVERSATION”.

28 Jan 2020

Professor Sally Casswell is seen presenting the results of a week-long assessment reviewing Thailand’s alcohol control policy at Government House, to Dr Satit Pitutecha, Deputy Minister of Public Health, accompanied by high-level executives and the National Alcohol Policy Committee. She headed up an international assessment team which consisted of experts from 6 countries, Thailand's national-level experts, and a representative of the World Health Organization. The assessment was conducted from 20 to 24 January 2020, with visits to 3 Provinces - Chiang Mai and Songkhla Provinces and Bangkok - to observe the local contexts. The assessment was made as part of Thailand’s Joint Assessment Mission to Review Alcohol Control Policy and Strategy initiative, with the goal to review the outcomes of alcohol control policy from 2008 to the present.

See more details here.

22 Jan 2020

“The Government has left voters in the dark ahead of this year's cannabis referendum, according to New Zealand's leading drug academic.

Chris Wilkins says we’re lagging behind the likes of Australia and Canada when it comes to measuring the effect of drugs on society. “

See more detail here.

9 January 2020

An opinion piece by Professor Sally Casswell entitled ‘Beware the influence of vested interests' input into the cannabis debate’ was published by Stuff.

14 Nov 2019

New research about legal cannabis has revealed a sobering statistic. In states where recreational marijuana has been legalised, teenagers are suffering higher rates of addiction.

The study of 505,796 respondents was carried out by researchers from New York University's School of Medicine.

It compared use of the drug before and after legalisation in the US. 

The proportion of people aged 12 to 17 who reported cannabis use disorder grew from 2.18 percent to 2.72 percent.

Chris Wilkins, a senior drug researcher at Massey University says the research is a "red flag".

• New Zealand cannabis hospitalisations more than double in decade - Ministry of Health

• Chlöe Swarbrick confident weaker drug laws won't encourage new users

• Parliament passes medicinal cannabis Bill, promises regulated market and legal defence

See more details here.

8 Nov 2019

Our Enabling Participation of Disabled Young People research project (funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand) worked with disabled young people to understand the factors that enabled or constrained their everyday participation in community life. While urban environments presented many obstacles, participants reported discriminatory ableist attitudes were much more constraining than physical barriers. We collaborated with graphic artist Toby Morris on a comic which has been widely disseminated in print and online, to highlight examples of everyday ableism participants encountered. You can see it here.

Below, a series of large posters of the comic attract attention from people passing by in Symonds Street, central Auckland.

8 Nov 2019

The Commonwealth has launched a regenerative climate change model combining indigenous knowledge with emerging technologies and scientific approaches to achieve sustainable development while protecting the planet. Common Earth is creating a network of projects which can be adapted and replicated in any community or country. When delegates from around the Commonwealth met in London in October, our co-design project with Wiri school children (funded through National Science Challenge’s Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities, Ko Nga wa Kainga hei whakamahorahora) was showcased as an example of regenerative development in Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland.

21 Oct 2019

The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education FARE have provided a recording of the public event of the KBS Advancing Public Health in International Alcohol Control meeting held in Melbourne on 3 October, where Prof Sally Casswell was a speaker.

This has now been uploaded to the FARE website and you can view it here.

18 October 2019

The Lancet has published a Comment written by Sally Casswell to coincide with the WHO consultation process on the implementation of the global strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol and the way forward, which will feed into the report from the Director General to the 2020 World Health Assembly. This will be the first time alcohol has appeared on the WHA agenda since the endorsement of the global strategy in 2010. The Comment argues a stronger response is required.

8 October 2019

This short research bulletin presents preliminary findings from the second online New Zealand Drug Trends Survey (NZDTS) conducted in 2018/19 by the SHORE & Wharki Research Centre, Massey University. Download the bulletin here.

4 Oct 2019

With the possibility a medicinal cannabis scheme could be up and running next year, researchers say there is still time to learn from similar schemes overseas.

In a report out on Friday morning, the experts warn legalising recreational cannabis at a similar time might undercut the market and lead to less access to safer medicinal products.

Massey University academic Marta Rychert joined The AM Show.

See more here.

20 Sep 2019

Massey University is hosting a series of public lectures on cannabis policy reform in the lead-up to the national referendum cannabis law planned for next year’s general election.

Associate Professor Chris Wilkins and Dr Marta Rychert from the SHORE & Whāriki Research Centre, in collaboration with colleagues from the College of Creative Arts’ Design & Democracy Project, are bringing speakers from Australia, Belgium, Canada, the United States and Uruguay to speak about the cannabis reforms enacted in their countries in a series of lectures open to the public in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington next month.

 In addition to a public seminar being held in Wellington on 15 October, Massey University has partnered with the University of Auckland Public Policy Institute and University of Otago to bring the speakers to Auckland (October 17) and Christchurch (October 18).

Who are the international experts?

Professor Beau Kilmer
RAND Corporation Drug Policy Research Center, United States

Associate Professor Rosario Queirolo
Catholic University of Uruguay, Latin American Marijuana Research Initiative

Professor Simon Lenton
National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Australia

Professor Tom Decorte
Ghent University, Belgium

Professor Benedikt Fischer
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada; now with Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland

Where and when?

Auckland:
17 October (Thursday) 6pm-8pm, University of Auckland

Science Centre (Building 301) Large Chemistry Lecture Theatre (Room G050), 23 Symonds St.

Register here:
https://cannabis-decision-2020-auckland.lilregie.com/

Wellington:
15 October (Tuesday) 6pm-8pm, Wharewaka Function Centre, 2 Taranaki St.
Register here:
https://cannabis-decision-2020-wellington.lilregie.com/

Christchurch:
18 October (Friday) 4:30pm–6:30, University of Otago Rolleston Lecture Theatre, 2 Riccarton Ave
Register here:
https://cannabis-decision-2020-christchurch.lilregie.com/

See flyer here and more information here.

1 Aug 2019

Associate Professor Chris Wilkins has been invited by the Prime Minister’s Scientific Advisor to join the panel of experts considering cannabis law reform. See the bios of the rest of the panel and the terms of reference at the link below:

https://www.pmcsa.ac.nz/our-projects/cannabis/

19 Jul 2019

This Health Research Council funded study, undertaken with 35 disabled children and young people and their whanau, has concluded that social attitudes can undermine inclusion and participation as much if not more than inaccessible built environments. To illustrate the effects of ableism of the wellbeing of disabled young people SHORE & Whariki researchers have collaborated with cartoonist Toby Morris. Link to Toby’s cartoon here.

25 June 2019

Professor Helen Moewaka Barnes, Te Kapotai, Ngapuhi-nui-tonu, from Massey University’s SHORE & Whāriki Research Centre, has been awarded nearly $5 million to investigate environmental and kaupapa Māori initiatives aimed at providing much needed gains in Māori health outcomes.

Read more here.

17 June 2019

Professor Sally Casswell was a speaker at the Global Health Forum of the Boao Forum in Qingdao, China, June 2019,  in the session on risk factors for NCDs. Professor Casswell directs SHORE, which is a WHO Collaborating Centre in alcohol and drug research and is chair of the global NGO, the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance.

12 June 2019

New Zealand should look at Uruguay as a good example for how to handle cannabis legalisation, drug researcher Chris Wilkins says.

Dr Wilkins told The AM Show Uruguay has taken a not for profit approach to cannabis, which has allowed for a much lower impact introduction of the drug.

Watch: Chris Wilkins on The AM Show. Credits: The AM Show