Alcohol and Other Drugs
We conduct leading research on alcohol and other drug dependence, working with at-risk populations including people who are drug dependent and people who inject drugs.
About this group
In Australia, alcohol and other drug dependence is a major issue. According to Rethink Addiction (2022), it contributes to health and social harms that cost the Australian community approximately $35 billion a year.
Burnet has a well-established reputation working with communities to reduce alcohol and other drug-related harms. This includes at-risk populations such as:
- people who are drug dependent
- people without stable housing
- people who inject drugs.
Our work uses innovative research designs and methods including:
- cross-sectional surveys
- population surveys
- longitudinal cohort data linkage studies
We also collaborate with researchers from key national and international institutions.
Our aims are to:
- document the trajectories of alcohol and other drug use
- document key intervention points to reduce harms
- develop innovative studies to better understand
- patterns of alcohol and other drug use
- related harms in the community
- develop, implement and evaluate new interventions to reduce alcohol and other drug-related harms.
Key achievement
The National Health and Medical Research Council has awarded $3.9 million to Burnet Institute. The funding is to establish a cohort of people who inject drugs and use the North Richmond Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR). With their consent, the cohort will be followed through record linkage to administrative (e.g. health and housing) data.
The program brings together partners from nationwide research institutes, universities and community-based organisations.
Current projects
Victorian Drug Trends
The Drugs Trends Program includes the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) and the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS).
Supervised Injecting Room Cohort study (SIRX)
A cohort study of people who inject drugs and who use the Melbourne Supervised Injecting Rooms.
Methamphetamine use in Melbourne and rural Victoria: the VMAX cohort study
The VMAX cohort study follows 850 people who use methamphetamine recruited from metropolitan Melbourne and 3 regions of rural Victoria.
Methamphetamine and injecting drug use cohort studies: MIXMAX
MIXMAX is the largest active cohort study of people who use drugs in Australia. It combines 2 pre-existing studies: SuperMIX and VMAX.
EXPAND-C: hepatitis C testing and treatment through community pharmacies
Expanding access to hepatitis C testing and treatment using a pharmacy-based model.
Analysis of trends in non-fatal overdose among clients attending the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, 2001–2024
Health service data from the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) provides an extremely valuable opportunity to gain greater insight into the circumstances surrounding non-fatal overdose among people who inject drugs.
Eliminate Hepatitis C Australia (EC Australia)
Partnering to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health threat by 2030.
Advancing global knowledge of the drivers of fatal and non-fatal overdose
Work investigating non-fatal and fatal overdose among people who use drugs in Australia is important within the context of changing drug markets.
How stable housing can support people who use drugs (HOUSED)
Australia is experiencing a housing crisis, and people who use drugs are being left behind. To address this, we're analysing the social, economic and health benefits of stable housing for people who use drugs.
Injecting drug use in Melbourne: SuperMIX cohort study
The largest and longest-running active cohort study of people who inject drugs in Australia (since 2008).
Achieving the final phases of hepatitis C elimination using innovative models of care
We're identifying innovative models of care so that no-one misses out on HCV care in Australia and globally.
Analysis of changes in age of initiation of illicit drug use in Australia
This project updates analysis of NDSHS survey data from 2001 to 2022 to monitor trends in age of initiation and prevalence of illicit drug use by birth cohort over time among Australians.
MIDY: The Mobile Intervention for Drinking in Young People (pilot)
Binge drinking is a significant public health issue in Australia, but current health promotion strategies for reducing binge drinking are largely ineffective.
Past projects
Young adults and alcohol
The young adults and alcohol study is a prospective cohort study of 800 young risky drinkers recruited in Melbourne in 2012 through computer-assisted telephone interviewing.
Understanding risky single occasion drinking and links to harms among young Australians
Young Australians frequently engage in risky single occasion drinking. This drinking pattern is associated with a variety of harms including increased risk of accidents, exposure to violence and risky sex.
Feasibility study for a potential medically supervised injecting centre/drug consumption service for the ACT
This study provided evidence on whether a supervised drug consumption room (or rooms) is suited to the ACT context.
DPMP: The Drug Policy Modelling Program
DPMP aims to improve Australian drug policy by studying how policy actually gets made and evaluating policy processes.
Substance use and related harms among young people in the Solomon Islands
This research project explored how use of alcohol, tobacco and other substances affects young people in the Solomon Islands.
Smartphone apps for alcohol health promotion
This pilot study aims to investigate the use of smart phone apps for health promotion.
Investigating blood donation practices among people who inject drugs
In Australia, potential blood donors are ‘deferred’ permanently if they report a history of injecting drug use (IDU). Burnet reviewed the appropriateness of this policy.
News and features
View 11 more
First aid courses encouraged to include life-saving naloxone training
ANZCOR has revised its First Aid Management of Suspected Opioid Overdose guideline to recommend that naloxone be administered in suspected overdoses.
Generation X disproportionately impacted by methamphetamine-related deaths
Australia’s generation X face the highest risk of death from methamphetamine-related causes among all age groups, according to a new Burnet Institute study.
Australia faces rising threats from synthetic opioids
Reports of synthetic opioids contaminating Australia’s drug supply highlight the concerning pace at which they are entering the country. The Australian Federal Police recently raised concerns after detecting nitazenes in counterfeit pharmaceutical products seized at Australian borders.
Featured publications
Supervised Injecting Room Cohort Study (SIRX): study protocol
BMJ Open
Ashleigh C. Stewart et al
20-year trends in Australian methamphetamine-related deaths, 2001–2020
International Journal of Drug Policy
Oisin Stronach et al
Cohort Profile: The Melbourne Injecting Drug User Cohort Study (SuperMIX)
International Journal of Epidemiology
Wijnand van den Boom et al
Anxiety and depression among a community‐recruited cohort of people who use methamphetamine: A longitudinal analysis
Addiction
Zoe Duncan et al
Disproportionate, differential and targeted treatment: people who use drugs’ experiences of policing during the COVID-19 pandemic
Health & Justice
Shelley Walker et al
The impacts of COVID‐19 measures on drug markets and drug use among a cohort of people who use methamphetamine in Victoria, Australia
Addiction
Kasun Rathnayake et al
Twenty-year trends in pharmaceutical fentanyl and illicit fentanyl deaths, Australia 2001–2021
International Journal of Drug Policy
Amanda Roxburgh, Suzanne Nielsen
Changes in Australians' attitudes towards supervised injecting facilities
Drug and Alcohol Review
Zachary Lloyd et al
A prospective cohort of people who use methamphetamine in Melbourne and non‐metropolitan Victoria, Australia: Baseline characteristics and correlates of methamphetamine dependence
Drug and Alcohol Review
Brendan Quinn et al
Group contacts
Professor Paul Dietze
Program Director, Disease Elimination; Professor and Program Leader, National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)
Student supervisor contacts
Associate Professor Peter Higgs
Principal Research Fellow; Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, La Trobe University
Professor Paul Dietze
Program Director, Disease Elimination; Professor and Program Leader, National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)
Group members
Professor Paul Dietze
Program Director, Disease Elimination; Professor and Program Leader, National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)
Associate Professor Peter Higgs
Principal Research Fellow; Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, La Trobe University
Dr Amanda Roxburgh
Senior Research Fellow
Anja Busse
Honorary Senior Fellow
Ashleigh Stewart
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Bianca Whiteside
PhD candidate; Research Assistant
Dr Caitlin Douglass
Senior Research Officer
Caitlin Caselli
Master’s Student
Dr Campbell Aitken
Research Fellow
Dr Danielle Horyniak
Honorary Staff member
Filip Djordjevic
Research Assistant
Dr Jocelyn Chan
Public Health Physician and Research Officer
Professor Margaret Hellard AM
Deputy Director, Programs; Adjunct Professor, Monash University, DEPM.
Professor Mark A Stoové
Head of Public Health
Dr Michael Curtis
Postdoctoral Research Officer
Dr Rebecca Winter
Deputy Head, Justice Health
Rebekka (Bek) Petrovic
Research Assistant
Dr Shelley Walker
Adjunct Research Fellow
Doriano Raffaele
Research Assistant
Lawrence Rivera
Research Assistant
Dr Sophia Schroeder
Senior Research Officer
Stephanie Curtis
Surveillance Officer / Master of Philosophy (Applied Epidemiology) Scholar
Wai Chung Tse
Research Assistant
Zachary Lloyd
Research Assistant
Matthew Gill
PhD Student
