3 women from 3 different backgrounds put their family and their drug use together in 3 different ways

When you’re beginning your journey of drug use, it is easy to get a bit overenthusiastic and end up lost, especially when you don’t have any elders around to help guide you. Akshay spent a lot of time worrying that cannabis and LSD had given him drug-induced anxiety, depersonalisation and psychosis, but he eventually realised that the people who were trying to help him held some negative attitudes towards drugs, and he needed a more supportive — and experienced — community around him.

Kate is a proud Aboriginal woman who has a history of injecting heroin. She wants to share her unique experience of clearing hep C twice, nearly 2 decades apart. Her first treatment was in prison in the early 2000s, with Interferon. Soon after she got out of prison, she got hep C again and didn’t get treated until 2019. Getting treated a second time has been life changing for her and she now supports peers with hep C and drug use.

Peer Worker Maureen Steele has been an active and influential peer worker for some 30 years. She has been inducted in the NUAA Hall of Fame for her tireless and outstanding commitment to our community.

Natasha’s story: Jail, the ‘register’, rehab and life without harm reduction.

Sam’s story. Drugs and growing up Vietnamese-Australian in Western Sydney.

We spoke to 3 people from Muslim backgrounds about their experiences with drug use, their communities and their best pieces of advice.

Chad has written this opinion piece, reflecting on the shifting sands around accessing prescription opioids based on his own use of pain medications

Rob is an opioid user who shares his experience and harm reduction advice regarding using the synthetic drug that is up to 100 times stronger than morphine

So what happens when you find yourself dealing super strong gear?

When Jesse couldn’t get 2C-B he decided to take the mystery powder he was offered instead

People use drugs for many reasons. These are 3 stories about ketamine — along with some tips for reducing the harms for people who choose to go the K way

Article, and original research, by Dale

Peers share their experiences vaping cannabis

UN interviews Dr Liam Engel, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University about the finer points of new wave cannabis use. The more you know, the better you can manage the risks.

Bridie and Pandora are two older women who share some of their changes — the things they have learnt — from the practical to the philosophical

“Gender had always felt like play for me, and using meth felt like my way to indulge in the drama of the performance. I got off on how binary my expressions were – in a way it was kind of like drag.”

“My gender was linked to the type of sex I was having. And the type of sex I was having always closely related to the types of drugs I was using.  When I started shooting opioids, it wasn’t long before needles became a central part of my sex life…”

Robert Stirling is the Deputy CEO of NADA (Network of Alcohol and other Drugs Agencies). He works to make sure every person who uses drugs feels valued and gets quality treatment.

Drugs and sex? Viv says everybody’s doing it. Well… lots of us anyway