The Yarra Drug and Health Forum is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year. The Forum was established in 1996, when the Premier’s Drug Advisory Council, chaired by public health expert Professor David Pennington, produced a report which recommended that the “State Government encourage and support coordination of local responses and establish statewide structures to monitor and advise on the future development of Victoria’s drug response”.
We’ll hear from Vera Boston, who called the meeting where the Forum was established. Greg Denham, Executive Officer of the Forum from 2010 to 2018 and who continues to be on the executive, and Amanda Stone, the current Executive Officer. They discuss the work of the Forum over the last thirty years: its education and advocacy role; its work for a medically supervised injecting room in Yarra and the championing of the availability of life-saving Naloxone.
Most of all, the Yarra Drug and Health Forum is celebrating thirty years of bringing people together to explore alcohol and other drug issues, learn from each other and propose solutions that are evidence-based and humane.
Yarra Drug and Health Forum website
Medically Supervised Injecting Room website.
https://nrch.com.au/services/medically-supervised-injecting-room-msir/
Pill-testing service website
95 Brunswick St Fitzroy
https://www.vicpilltesting.org.au/
