Foundation for Alcohol & Drug Education

Drugs touch people's lives in so many ways. The FADE website is here to help you, your family, friends, workmates and the community you choose to be part of.

Alcohol
and Drugs

Latest News

9th September 2010
MEMO to Australian smokers: don't expect sympathy from your compatriots if you develop lung cancer. Research has found Australians are the world's least sympathetic when it comes to patients diagnosed with lung cancer. But the same study of 1000 adults across 16 countries, including Australia, found many were ignorant about lung cancer being the most common cause of cancer death.
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9th September 2010
AUSTRALIAN guidelines on alcohol intake during pregnancy are inconsistent and research is urgently needed to establish the effect of low to moderate drinking on the unborn child, researchers say. In an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia yesterday, researchers found about 80 per cent of women drink alcohol during pregnancy - a figure that has remained steady despite changes in government guidelines.
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SOURCE 2009…a new look for FADE

Welcome to FADE’s comprehensive guide to drug and alcohol education, research and resources…SOURCE. This is the new-look newsletter from FADE for 2009 in which we bring you up-to-date information on drug and alcohol research that we believe will be of interest to you and others you work with and care for. You can download this as a PDF file now or email colin@fade.org.nz with your posting details and I’ll send you a copy.

Life is hectic these days and sometimes information overload is daunting. We trust we have hit the mark here by providing you with a quick way to keep on-the-pace with alcohol and drug education information, research and resources.

In this first edition we give some special attention to ‘P’…crystal methamphetamine. In my 24 years working in this field I have never seen such media coverage of one drug and the problems it creates. This wide-ranging coverage has aligned with the launch of a new group in New Zealand. The Stellar Trust has dedicated itself to the eradication of ‘P’-related problems in our country. It has many high profile people involved and certainly had a strong political presence at the launch. Whether or not its focus aligns with the government supported NZ Drug Foundation remains to be seen. I am not sure that our current National Drug Policy of harm minimisation fits well with the Stellar Trust’s direction. It will be very interesting to see where our National government leans…and lean it must! Time will tell.

What is the cost of drug and alcohol use to us as a wee country? You will be staggered by the figures produced by Business and Economic Research Ltd (BERL). This report, commissioned by the Ministry of Health, adds weight to why our National government MUST look very carefully at the National Drug Policy and begs the obvious question…is it working and is this the right policy for a New Zealand that wants to come out of the current recession leading, not following, the rest of the world? A big question that needs a big answer! We do indeed live in interesting times.