The effect of public opinion and politics on attitudes towards pill testing: Results from the 2019 Australian Election Study

Drug-related deaths at Australian music festivals

BACKGROUND

Illicit drug use is overrepresented in music festival attendees compared with the general population. Drug use often involves a wide range of substances with the potential to cause drug toxicity. Law enforcement-centred strategies intended to deter drug use and supply at these mass gatherings have been implemented throughout Australia. However, many have been criticised for their lack of effectiveness, with evidence suggesting that they can inadvertently increase the risk of drug harm. Drug deaths are often multifactorial, providing added challenges in the development of prevention strategies. This study aimed to determine the frequency of deaths involving alcohol and other drugs at music festivals in Australia and to identify potential risk factors that may inform future harm reduction strategies.

METHODS

A descriptive case series study was conducted using the National Coronial Information System (NCIS) to investigate drug-related deaths at music festivals throughout Australia between 1 July 2000 (Queensland from 1 January 2001) and 31 December 2019, using a list of keywords comprising music festival names and terms.

RESULTS

There were 64 deaths, of which most involved males (73.4%) aged in their mid-20s (range 15-50 years). Drug toxicity was the most common primary cause of death (46.9%) followed by external injuries (37.5%). The drug most commonly detected or reported as being used was MDMA (65.6%), followed by alcohol (46.9%) and cannabis (17.2%), with most cases reporting the use of two or more drugs (including alcohol) and 36% reporting a history of drug misuse in the coroner's findings. Most deaths were unintentional, with less than a fifth of cases (17.2%) involving intentional self-harm. Clinical intervention was involved in 64.1% of cases and most festivals occurred in inner city locations (59.4%).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that drug-related deaths at music festivals in Australia typically involve young people using multiple illicit substances in combination with alcohol. Most are unintentional and could potentially be prevented through the implementation of a range of harm reduction strategies, including mobile medical care, drug checking services, and increased consumer education and awareness.

A step change model analysis of the establishment of pill testing in one Australian jurisdiction

This paper applies the theory of change model (Kotter in Harv Bus Rev 2:59-67, 1995; Moore et al. in Viet Nam J Public Health 1(1):66-75, 2013) to describe the pathway that lead to Australia's first pill testing/drug checking services in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. The paper takes each step of the model and illustrates the key activities that largely occurred over an approximately 24 month period resulting in the service being operational on 29 April 2018. The paper demonstrates that leadership, advocacy and activism are key components, alongside evidence, to bringing about public policy change. It provides a unique insight to the extensive efforts undertaken to achieving the first legally sanctioned pill testing at festivals in Australia and provides a positive case study for those seeking to introduce contested harm reduction services in the drug and alcohol field.

Who supports drug-checking services in Australia? An analysis of 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey data

INTRODUCTION

Drug-checking services can minimise the potential harms from drug use and have received increased attention in recent policy debates in Australia. In this brief report, we aim to better understand the prevalence of support for drug-checking services among individuals of certain demographic groups, social status and social attitudes towards drug and alcohol policy.

METHODS

This report uses data from the 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, a national population study of alcohol and other drug use conducted triennially in Australia. We examined support for drug-checking services descriptively, alongside associations between demographic, social and substance use variables and support of drug-checking using Generalised Linear Model analyses with a Poisson distribution and log link.

RESULTS

Overall, 56% of the sample supported policies related to drug-checking services. Support was highest among those aged 25-34 years (62%), most socioeconomically advantaged (66%), with an income over $104,000 (64%), with a bachelor's degree or higher (65%), living in major cities (58%), recent consumers of commonly tested drugs (88%) and other drugs (77%), and risky drinkers (64%). In the multivariable model, those who were younger, women and had the highest level of education were more likely to support the policy compared to those who were aged 55+ years, men and had lower levels of education.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

This report highlights that, while there were different degrees of support based on demographic characteristics, substance use status and social attitudes towards drug and alcohol policy, the overall majority of the sample supported the provision of drug-checking services.

Changes in Australian community perceptions of non-communicable disease prevention: a greater role for government?

Background

Monitoring trends in community opinion can identify critical opportunities to implement upstream health policies or interventions. Our study examines change and demographic modifiers of change in community perceptions of government intervention for prevention of lifestyle-related chronic disease across two time points in Australia.

Methods

Data were drawn from the 2016 (n = 2052) and 2018 (n = 2601) waves of a nationally representative cross-sectional telephone survey, ‘AUSPOPS’. Survey questions gauged perceptions of government intervention for health in general, peoples’/organizations’ role in maintaining health (e.g., parents, government) and support for specific health interventions (e.g., taxing soft drink).

Bivariate and multivariate regression models tested for change between the two surveys, adjusted for demographic characteristics. Models with interactions between survey wave and demographic variables tested for differential change. One-tailed variance ratio tests examined whether opinions had become more polarized in 2018 compared with 2016.

Results

The large, significant increase observed in the perceived size of the role that government has in maintaining people’s health was uniform across demographic subpopulations. The role for employers and private health insurers was also perceived to be larger in 2018 compared with 2016, but the degree of change varied by gender, age and/or socioeconomic status. Support for some government interventions (e.g., taxing soft drinks) increased among specific demographic subgroups whilst exhibiting no overall change. Opinion was more polarized on general attitudes to government intervention for population health in 2018 compared to 2016, despite little change in central tendency.

Conclusions

Opportunities may exist to implement government health-promoting policies (e.g., taxing soft drinks), although advocacy may be needed to address the concerns of less supportive subpopulations. Attitudes on government intervention in general may be becoming more polarized; future research examining the association of such changes with exposure to different information sources could inform communication strategies for future health policy change.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-12159-9.