[AUS] [Vic] Methamphetamine use in Melbourne

[Tronica]

This ad has been printed in the local newspapers recently. We have permission to post it here at Bluelight too:

Monash University researchers are conducting a study to examine the frequent use of methamphetamine (e.g. speed, crystal meth/ice) among people in Melbourne.

The study involves an interview that will take approx. 45-60 minutes to complete. Interviews are strictly confidential and anonymous.

Participants will be reimbursed for their time and expenses.

Please email Brendan [email protected] or call 0427-103-777 for further info or to see if you are eligible for the study.

This project is part of Brendan Quinn's PhD project.

 

[L3inad]

I did that survey a couple of weeks ago.

Brendan is a nice guy, and anyone who is a regular user of amphetamines should consider taking part.

You are re-imbursed $40 for your time, and it really doesnt take all that long.

There is also an optional follow up component to the study, where you they will track you down after 12 months for another survey to see whats changed.

I was intererested and saddened to hear that of some of the people that have already been followed up, one is already dead.

Please, anyone who fits the bill and is halfway intelligent jump on board and support this study to try and give some true statistics regarding drug usage in australia. Something that doesnt seem to of happened before.

 

[Tronica]

Thanks for the feedback, L3inad. It would be great if people could suggest the study to their friends as well if they know anyone who regularly uses amphetamines in Melbourne.

 

[jojo87]

can you take part of it if you were a meth user for 3 years? or do you have too be a current meth user?

 

[Tronica]

I think you have to be a current user, but probably best to contact the researchers directly and ask them yourself jojo87.

 

[TripppAR]

Now THAT would be hillarious if straight after everyone was going to buy meth with the reimbursment haha ahha..


although here that is not likely with the $ of things..

 

[Tronica]

Now THAT would be hillarious if straight after everyone was going to buy meth with the reimbursment haha ahha..

although here that is not likely with the $ of things..

There is ongoing discussion in the research community about the ethics of paying people who use drugs for their participation in research. We figure that people who have expertise and are willing to spend their time with us should be reimbursed at least for the cost of their time and effort.

Some agencies who run research will only approve studies if they use shopping vouchers or similar non-cash gifts because they want to avoid people buying drugs with the cash. I personally think that treating drug users differently to other people who participate in research is discriminatory. Why shouldn't people get cash as a reimbursement which they can use as they please?

The important point for researchers is to ensure that the cash reimbursement is not excessive because we don't want people to be deciding to participate in research solely because they have a desperate need for cash. Paying people $100 would be likely to bring in heaps more people, but probably not for the right reasons...

 

[Tronica]

Hi folks, Burnet is still seeking participants for this project. Contact Brendan (see first post for details) to see if you are eligible

 

[Tronica]

A message from Brendan:

Recruitment for this study is now complete. A big thank you to those who were involved. We will be starting the 12 month follow-up interviews shortly. If any contact details change over the next few months, please email them through to [email protected] or call 0427-103-777.

Cheers, Brendan

 

[Tronica]

Published in Journal of Substance Use.
Title: Methamphetamine use in Melbourne, Australia: baseline characteristics of a prospective methamphetamine-using cohort and correlates of methamphetamine dependence

Methamphetamine use is associated with numerous harms and consequently represents a significant impact on Australia’s treatment and health service sectors. This article presents baseline findings from the first cohort study of regular methamphetamine users conducted in Melbourne, describing associations between participant characteristics and behaviours and methamphetamine dependence. A total of 255 Melbourne-based, regular methamphetamine users were recruited during 2010 and administered a structured questionnaire. Most were male and Australian-born with a median age of 30 years. Sixty percent of the participants were classified as methamphetamine dependent using the Severity of Dependence Scale. The socio-demographic characteristics of these participants were generally comparable to non-methamphetamine-dependent participants; however, methamphetamine dependence was independently associated with experience of high levels of psychological distress during the previous month, current use of prescribed mental health medication and primarily injecting methamphetamine over other routes of administration. Polysubstance use was universal; many participants also reported recent use of cannabis and heroin. Despite the fundamentally different recruitment criteria, the socio-demographic characteristics of the community-recruited baseline sample reflect those of methamphetamine-using samples recruited in other Australian jurisdictions since the mid-1990s. This study provides important up-to-date data on methamphetamine use in Melbourne and is an important basis for understanding any future changes to patterns of methamphetamine use in this region.

Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/14659891.2012.675400