News Articles

  • July 2012

    • Changes to Queensland Health non-recurrent funding

      The Minister for Health Lawrence Springborg has released a list of changes to Queensland Health grants for the new financial year having reviewed the long list of allocations ending on or before June 30, 2012. He said 303 grants were scheduled for expiry, including a large number providing services to reduce public demand on Queensland hospitals or support frontline service delivery. Of these, 119 were renewed at existing funding levels. Letters of notification to those organisations were being distributed. He said the process of reviewing annual grants had been hampered by confused reco…

  • June 2012

    • Drug and Alcohol Treatment Service Delivery – Successful applicants

      The Department of Health and Ageing has been in contact with your organisation over the past month negotiating funding and the scope of your projects for the 2012-13 to 2014-15 period under the Substance Misuse and Service Delivery Grants Fund (the Fund) and the Non Government Organisation Treatment Grants Program (NGOTGP). The recent funding rounds for the Fund and NGOTGP resulted in a large number of applications for funding and this has led to unanticipated delays in finalising Funding Agreements. The department is working hard to ensure that all agreements comply with the legislative…

    • The Empowering Communities Program

      Grant: The Empowering Communities Program G04377 Provider: The Malian Foundation Category: Community Services &&Development Funding: Various Closes: Ongoing Purpose: To offer products and services for non-profit organisations around the world. Overview: The Empowering Communities Program, offered without charge to charitable causes worldwide, provides management and open-source software tools focusing on common issues surrounding non-profit organisations such as volunteer management, fundraising, strategic planning and donor relations. The program also offers a free…

  • April 2012

    • Workforce Development Survey

      Queensland Health has developed a survey which will give us a true demographic profile of our workforce. QNADA also encourage all staff to fill in this survey. Complete the survey for a chance to win a free registration to the 2012 Winter School and to enhance workforce development" ick here to enter the Workforce development Survey…

    • Hills Clinic clinician says alcohol worse than illicit drugs

      BY JADE WITTMANN, ISABELL PETRINIC AND STEVEN SPIERINGS, 17 Apr, 2012. TED Cassidy, a psychiatrist at The Hills Clinic, Kellyville, said he did not have a stance on the findings of a report on the decriminalisation of drugs prepared by think tank Australia21, and said it would not affect the way he delivered treatment. Read More…

    • New workplace tussle over drug testing

      Lexi Metherell, Wednesday, April 18, 2012, ABC.net.au. There's a new tussle between unions and business over drug testing for workers.The body overseeing the rollout of revised national drug testing rules for railway workers, has defended leaving it up to rail companies to decide what method of testing they use. Read More…

    • Addiction to opioids has higher risk of death than alcohol or other drugs

       April 18, 2012, news-medical.net, People with an opioid addiction had the highest risk of death when compared with rates for alcohol and other drugs, according to a new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Read More…

    • Depression and Drug Use in Teens

      NEW YORK, April 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Depression and alcohol use are common challenges facing today's teenagers, especially those who are attending high school. On their own, these are formidable challenges to overcome. A new study reveals that they may actually have a correlation between them.  Read More…

  • March 2012

    • Parties split over state's new mental health body

      Daniel Hurst, Brisbane Times, March 2012 The new Queensland Mental Health Commission planned by the state government to manage $1 billion in funds could take a much different shape with the Liberal National Party in power Read more …

    • LNP vows to smash organised crime

      Jarrod Bleijie, LNP, March 2012 The LNP has vowed to smash organised crime in Queensland on winning government. LNP Shadow Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said the tired, 20-year Labor government had allowed organised crime to flourish – as evidenced by drug-running gangs choosing the Gold Coast as their national distribution base. d more…

  • January 2012

    • Blunting the legacy of alcohol abuse in Western Australia

      Tony Kirby The Lancet, Volume 379,  21 January 2012  After bravely ushering in alcohol sale restrictions proposed by its residents, a remote Western Australian community is tackling the long-term effects of alcohol misuse. Tony Kirby reports. Fitzroy Crossing, an isolated town with approximately 2500 residents in Australia's remote northwest, was typical of such communities, with a large Indigenous population (around 60%), high rates of harmful alcohol use, and depressingly high rates of alcohol-related violence and crime. A tipping point came in 2007 when there were 55 deaths in the…

    • Alcohol binge sessions contribute to growing grog gut

      Karen Collier and Wes Hosking:  Herald Sun    January 17, 2012 A BOOZY night out could add as much to women's waistlines as a fast food binge, with the booming popularity of kilojoule-laden cocktails, spirits and cider causing "spare tyres".     More…

    • Smoke clears over marijuana lung risks

      AAP - published in the Australian January 12, 2012   PEOPLE who occasionally smoke marijuana do not suffer long-term lung damage the way cigarette smokers do and may actually experience a slight improvement, a new study says. Since the research included more than 5000 people older than 20, the authors said it should help clear up some of the confusion about the risks of marijuana smoking. However, they warned that the danger of heavy marijuana use was difficult to assess and cautioned against regular or frequent smoking. "Marijuana is still an illegal drug and it has many compli…

    • Patterns: Study Finds Problem Drinkers Get Bigger Endorphin Kick

      Nicholas Bakalar - New York Times 12 January 2012    Drinking alcohol causes a pleasant feeling because it releases endorphins, the brain’s natural opioids. But a new study has found that problem drinkers differ from social drinkers in the way alcohol affects one part of the brain. The report appeared Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine. Researchers performed PET imaging on 13 heavy drinkers and 12 social drinkers after each had had a standardized amount of alcohol. The scientists traced the release of endorphins in two regions of the brain — the nucleus accumbens and the orbi…

    • Chinese tree extract stops rats getting drunk

      Andy Coghlan, New Scientist, 9th January 2012   Alcoholism is a huge problem globally, killing 2.5 million people a year according to the World Health Organization. There has been serious research recently looking for drugs that stop people drinking, or at least encourage them to drink less.  Extracts of a Chinese variety of the oriental raisin tree (Hovenia dulcis) could be the answer. d more…