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Indigenous community action to reduce harms associated with heavy cannabis use in remote communities in the Cape York region

Reach:
QLD
Focus area:
Indigenous
Status:
Current
Evaluated:
No

Overview

The Indigenous community action to reduce harms associated with heavy cannabis use in remote communities in the Cape York region project is funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council grant. The project aims to identify the full extent of cannabis use and the impact of that use on communities in the Cape York region of Queensland and Torres Strait Islands.

There are smaller programs being run as part of this umbrella research project. One project, Weed it out, is a crime prevention initiative run by the Queensland Police Service Far Northern Region Drug Squad in partnership with James Cook University. The project was initiated in October 2007, is funded until 2012, and aims to:

embed crime prevention, supply reduction, and demand reduction strategies in selected communities by 2012
reduce cannabis use and the associated harms to a level that can be managed in the core business of multi-agency stakeholders
manage the prospect of amphetamine type stimulants being introduced into these communities.

A set of culturally relevant cannabis posters have been produced as part of the Cape York cannabis project. The Pacha/ku-ul resource was released in March 2011 and outlines the effects of cannabis use and promotes prevention of its use. It was distributed in an Indigenous community in far North Queensland and is written in Creole (their native language).

Abstract adapted from James Cook University

Contacts

Gary Hunter
A/Senior Sergeant
Officer in Charge
Cairns City Beat
Queensland Police
Ph: (07) 4048 1271
Fax: (07) 4048 1270
Email: weeditout@police.qld.gov.au

Associate Professor Alan Clough
Discipline of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
James Cook University
Ph: (07) 4042 1604
Email: alan.clough@jcu.edu.au

Related publications

Dowie M, Hunter G, Clough A (2009)

Queensland Police Service (QPS) and James Cook University (JCU) ‘Weed it out’ project “Reducing the harms associated with cannabis use in Indigenous communities of Cape York and the Torres Straits”.

Paper presented at the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs Conference 2009. 1-4 November 2009, Darwin

Cape York Cannabis Project artwork posters (2010)

Cape York Cannabis Project

This set of posters was created as part of the Cape York cannabis project and the Weed it out initiative, produced by the Queensland Police Service and James Cook University. The four posters offer an Indigenous perspective on the impact of cannabis use in their communities and on their culture.

Abstract adapted from National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre

Standing Committee of Attorneys-General Working Group on Indigenous Justice (2010)

National Indigenous law and justice framework good practice appendix.

Canberra: Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department

Queensland Police Service, James Cook University (2009)

Weeding out cannabis in the Far North.

Police Bulletin; (336): 28-29

Queensland Police Service (2010)

Far Northern Region overview.

Brisbane: Queensland Police Service

Pacha/ku-ul: gunja (2011)

Queensland Police Service, James Cook University

This booklet was developed as part of the Weed it out initiative in northern Queensland, and is designed to be distributed as a health promotion resource to the Indigenous people of far North Queensland. The booklet is written in Creole, their native language, and outlines the effects of cannabis use and how to reduce its use.

Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet abstract

Links

Last updated: 4 July 2012

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