March 2013 Vol. 11 No. 1

 4.7 MB Pages: 32
The March print issue of Of Substance is out now, and is full of the latest information about alcohol and other drug research and events. Click on the PDF link above to access the full magazine.
Feature articles include:

• A holiday from alcohol: Taking a break from drinking
• Cannabis: A potent problem?
• Alcohol, drugs and domestic violence
• Looking to the future: Challenges ahead for the AOD field
• Drugs: There's an app for that!
• Take note! Case notes and the AOD sector
• Research digest, news and more.

Welcome to the March edition of Of Substance.

Another holiday season is over, and by now readers will be well into the flow of the year. Another annual landmark which has also just ended is Febfast, an event which encourages people to take a break from alcohol. To mark the occasion, we decided to explore the phenomenon of 'dry months' such as Febfast, Dry July and Ocsober, along with their sister alcohol-free campaign 'Hello Sunday Morning'. We wanted to
know who participates, whether these events change people's drinking habits and whether the alcohol and other drug (AOD) sector should embrace them as a
vehicle for promoting treatment. The answers to these questions surprised us.

Almost 50 years ago, Bob Dylan sang 'the times, they are a'changin'. Today, this still rings true. In a world of rapidly-evolving technology, AOD services must find new ways of working with old problems. We look at one of the newest approaches to tackling substance issues – the world of smartphone apps. We also invited Professor Ann Roche from the National Centre for Education and Training to reflect more widely on the changes and challenges she sees ahead for the sector. One of those challenges is to break down the 'silo' mentality which so often exists between different areas of social support. Too often, AOD workers don't know what is happening at the housing agency in the next street or in the mental health clinic around the corner. Yet our clients may well use all these services.

In this issue, we look at one of the related but separate problems which can impact people who struggle with AOD use – domestic violence. We are pleased to be able to profile a service which has been established to help AOD clinicians better work with this issue.

Change also impacts the publishing sector, and it has become necessary for Of Substance to update its subscription database. Many of our loyal readers signed up before online communications became a vital part of magazine publishing, so in many cases we don't have subscribers' email addresses. The AOD sector is also highly mobile with staff moving from one position to another. Are your address details correct? Please visit www.ofsubstance.org.au and update your information.

I hope you enjoy this issue of Of Substance. As always, I welcome your feedback at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Jenny Tinworth
Managing Editor

Photo credits for Shutterstock images in the March 2013 issue:

Cover, Main: Boule, Background: Molodec
Contents: Background, Vaclav Mach
p3: Secondary schools, Monkey Business Images
p3: FASD, wavebreakmedia
p4: Pre-loading, Monkey Business Images
p4: Ice, Tatiana Morozova
p6: Drug text, Diego Cervo
p6: Inhailants, Mikael Damkier
p8: Texting, D. Hammonds; Background, Max Bukovski
p10: Bottles, Roman Sigaev; Background, kuppa
p11: Friends, Morgan DDL
p12: Friends having breakfast, credit information unavailable
p13: Girls drinking, aerogondo2
p14: Blonde girl, Martin Novak
p15: Hand with smartphone, Elnur
p17: Arrow road, Sergey Nivens; Background, Lee O'Dell
p20: Taking notes, Lisa F. Young
p22: Family violence, stefanolunardi; Background, kentoh
p24: Apple, Sandra Cunningham
p25: Man smoking, Goran Shutterstock
p26: Cannabis plant, Joe Hamilton Photography; Background, Jiri Vaclavek
p27: Marajuana cigarette, Devi
p28: Man in park, William Perugini