Emeritus Consultant, St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst
Dr Alex Wodak AM was Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service, St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney (1982-2012) but is now an Emeritus Consultant. Dr. Wodak is President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, and a Director of Australia21 and was President of the International Harm Reduction Association (1996-2004). He helped establish the first needle syringe programme and the first medically supervised injecting centre in Australia (when both were pre-legal) and often works in developing countries on HIV control among injecting drug users.
Why is it still so hard for patients in need to get medicinal cannabis?
Mar 10, 2017 03:24 am UTC| Health Law
This week the federal government granted its first license for an Australian company to grow and harvest medical marijuana. This follows Australias amending of the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 to legalise the production and...
Methadone, the most effective treatment for heroin dependence
Jun 15, 2016 02:45 am UTC| Health
Methadone is a synthetic drug that acts like drugs derived from the opium poppy (opioids). It is well absorbed when swallowed in a single dose, lasting about 24 hours. Methadone is used mainly to treat heroin...
Treating heroin dependence with heroin
Jun 01, 2016 08:17 am UTC| Insights & Views Health
Heroin, or diacetylmorphine, is made from opium poppies by first extracting morphine and then adding two molecules (acetyl) to each morphine molecule. Heroin was used medically in Australia for pain relief and other...