Program now available for this event.

Since it began in 2013 SSAC has conducted research on a wide range of topics including Australian, Canadian and Swedish alcohol and other drug policy, personal experiences of addiction in Australia, addiction concepts on Twitter, legal interpretations of addiction, the Victorian drug court, compulsory drug treatment in China, and young people in drug treatment. Drawing on a range of social scientific research methods such as in-depth interviewing, policy analysis, cultural studies, ethnographic observation and international comparative collaborative techniques, these projects aim to advance scholarship, inform policy, and tackle the stigma and discrimination associated with drug use in Australia and elsewhere. Many of the projects in the program are now well advanced and the team is keen to share its progress and findings.

In collaboration with the Monash University Faculty of Law, SSAC will hold a research symposium on Friday, 7th of October at the Monash University Law Chambers, Melbourne. As SSAC Program Leader Suzanne Fraser explained:

SSAC was established to encourage constructive critical thinking on the ideas central to official responses to drug use and to public reactions to drugs and people identified as drug users. We’ve always seen drug use and addiction as fundamentally social phenomena, and our research works hard to make use of this insight for rethinking existing responses and challenging the assumptions – some of them more obvious than others – that are routinely made about drugs. This event will inform researchers and interested professionals about our progress so far, but we’ll also hold an open discussion on emerging approaches and issues in critical social and legal studies of addiction. I hope alcohol and other drug researchers in all fields, researchers working in related areas, and professionals of all kinds will be there to help us refine our findings and set new coordinates for future research.

Friday 7th October, 1pm-5pm

Venue: Auditorium 1 & 2, Monash Law University Chambers, 555 Lonsdale St, Melbourne

The event will be chaired by Associate Professor Helen Keane (School of Sociology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University)

The symposium will be followed at 5pm by the launch of the Lives of Substance website

This groundbreaking new website will be launched with the help of writer Kate Holden and harm reduction pioneer Jenny Kelsall. Livesofsubstance.org will be Australia’s first dedicated website presenting carefully researched personal stories of alcohol or other drug addiction, dependence or habit. More information on the website is available here.

Places are filling fast so please RSVP soon: SSAC@curtin.edu.au

(For catering purposes, please indicate whether you wish to attend the symposium, the launch, or both events)