IDRS - Queensland Alcohol and Drug Research and Education Centre, The University of Queensland

The IDRS is an ongoing collaboration with the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales (UNSW).

Funding - $63,509 from the Australian Government Department of Health & Ageing, March 2010-March 2011.

Researchers – Rosa Alati; Fairlie McIlwraith; Sophie Hickey

Background

The IDRS is an annual, national illicit drug market monitoring system that is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. Each year QADREC conducts the Queensland arm of the IDRS, triangulating information from three sources:

Structured interviews with a convenience sample of 100 regular injecting drug users (participants) in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast;
Semi-structured interviews with key experts in the AOD sector whose work brings them into contact with people who regularly inject illicit drugs (e.g. NSP officers, police, social workers); and
Extant indicator data from relevant government and non-government agencies. The IDRS monitors the price, purity and availability of illicit drugs, trends in patterns of use and drug-related harms, and serves as an early-warning system for emerging trends in illicit drug use.

2010 highlights

· Presented key findings from 2009 and 2010 to Queensland Health workforce as part of the Alcohol and Drug Training Research Unit (ADTRU) seminar series at BIALA, Brisbane

· Successfully completed the 2010 monitoring project

· Participated in poster presentation of preliminary 2010 findings at the annual Drug Trends Conference in Sydney

2011 aims

· Renewal of the IDRS contract in 2011, with QADREC continuing to manage the Queensland arm of this national study

· Completion and publication of the 2010 Queensland IDRS report

· Dissemination of the Queensland IDRS report to stakeholders and key experts

· Presentation of selected findings from the 2010 IDRS at QADREC public seminar series in 2011

· Publication of papers from Queensland and national data