Monday, May 25, 2009

Deja Vu

I sat in a 2 hour meeting today discussing, amongst other things, the lack of resources in the Alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment sector. I had a distinct sense of deja vu - I'm sure I've had the same discussion before, several times.

Working in AOD treatment in Australia is interesting. Each of the state and territories does things differently. Even the laws regulating the provision of treatment are significantly varied. Unlike any other part of the health industries, where the structures for providing treatment are fairly consistent, AOD services are diverse at best and inconsistent at worst. The only thing that the various treatment services share is that they are all horribly under resourced.

... and yet ... alcohol and tobacco use are amongst the most significant causes of disease and death in our community ...