Rat Park: debunking myths about drug addiction

Canberra based cartoonist Stuart McMillen has drawn an entertaining and informative cartoon about the work of Professor Bruce K. Alexander, psychologist and Professor Emeritus at the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, and has kindly shared his work with Australia21.

McMillen’s cartoon covers the “Rat Park” experiments conducted by Professor Alexander in the 1970s, which demonstrated the importance of psycho-social context to the issue of an individual’s response to exposure to drugs.  According to the Wikipedia entry on Professor Alexander:

The Rat Park experiments, published in psychopharmacology journals in the late 1970s and early 1980s, flatly contradicted the dominant view of addiction in their day. They quickly disappeared from view, having evoked only negative responses in the mainstream press and journals. Lauren Slater’s controversial psychology book, Opening Skinner’s Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century helped to bring them back to public attention in 2005. These experiments are now widely known and cited.

The Rat Park experiments were among the first to show the error in the once dominant myth that certain drugs, particularly the opiates, convert all or most users into drug addicts. In the 1970s, this myth was said to be demonstrated by the high consumption of opiates and stimulants of rats isolated in specially modified Skinner Boxes that allowed drug self-administration. Alexander and his colleagues demonstrated experimentally that rats isolated in cages of about the same size as Skinner Boxes consume far more morphine than rats that are socially housed in Rat Park.  Subsequent research has confirmed that social housing reduces drug intake in rats and that the dominant myth was wrong both for rats and for human beings. Nonetheless, the myth is still embedded in popular culture.

Access Bruce McMillen’s cartoon strip here.

For more about Professor Alexander’s work visit his Globalization of Addiction website.

To see the citation on the Simon Fraser University’s website marking Professor Alexander’s being awarded the 2007 Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy click here.

Club 300

Australia21 is grateful to all of our supporters – those who make regular or one-off donations, those who contribute funds for projects that are of particular importance to them, and those who subscribe to our news updates or follow us on Twitter (@australia_21) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/australia21.org). It encourages us to know that there are people who are interested in and support the work that we do.

The past year has been a busy one and, subject to the availability of funds, this is set to continue. As a general overview of Australia21's agenda for the next six months or so:

-  We continue to work on illicit drug law reform through regular commentary and liaison with illicit drug advocacy and support organisations, and we take opportunities as they arise to publicise the vast amount of evidence which supports the need for a move away from prohibition.

-  Our report on a voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide roundtable held in January this year was launched on April 26, by Emeritus Professor The hon. Peter Baume, and we will be continuing to promote understanding of the need for reform in this area.

-  Our report on a transforming Australian landscapes roundtable held in February this year will be launched later this month.

-  We continue to work on our ecosystem services project and will have some exciting announcements on this soon.

-  We are designing a new project, subject to funding, designed to inject into the election campaign a need for our policy debates to consider the longer term issues that are important to our future and that of our children and grandchildren. For this purpose, next month we will release a collection of opinion pieces a diverse range of Australia's leading thinkers. The opinion pieces – all of which are being contributed pro bono – are well on the way, but we need funding to publish the collection and launch it in a way that captures the necessary public attention.

-  We are planning a major youth engagement project for mid year  

These important projects aim to make a positive difference to our country's future. All – with the exception of the ecosystems work – have been developed through donation or sponsorship. We do not receive ongoing operational funding. And this is where Club 300 comes in. We are looking for 300 people who would like to contribute $5 a week – little more than the price of a cup of coffee – so that we can continue this work which is so important for all of us. Just $20 a month would make a huge difference to Australia21's capacity to deliver in the future. This is not meant to be restrictive – if you would like to give more or you would like to give a one off donation please feel free, but if you would like to support us in an ongoing way Club 300 may be for you.

If you would like to become a Club 300 member by committing $20 a month to Australia21, click to make a secure online donation or send a cheque to:

Australia21 Limited

PO Box 3244

Weston ACT 2611.

We rely on your generosity to fund our work. All donations are gratefully received and are tax deductible.

If we reach our target, we will celebrate with an exclusive Australia21 online event for Club 300 members.

We look forward to welcoming you to Club 300.  

The Right to Choose an Assisted Death: Time for Legislation?

What: Launch of the Australia21 report: The Right to Choose an Assisted Death: Time for Legislation?

Who: Launched by Emeritus Professor The Hon Peter Baume AC

Where: Room 2S3, Parliament House Canberra

When: 10.30am Friday 26 April 2013.

A report on assisted dying prepared by Australia21 will be launched by Emeritus Professor The Hon Peter Baume AC at Parliament House, Canberra at 10:30am on Friday 26 April.

The report follows a high-level roundtable held in Brisbane in January on the question “How should Australia regulate voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide?” The roundtable brought together a group of former politicians, doctors, lawyers, palliative care workers, students and opponents and supporters of assisted dying following their review of a discussion paper on assisted dying prepared by two senior Queensland legal academics, Professors Ben White and Lindy Wilmott of the Health Law Research Centre, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology..

The lead author of the report and convenor of the roundtable, Emeritus Prof Bob Douglas AO said:

World views on assisted dying are changing rapidly. In recent years a number of jurisdictions around the world have decriminalized assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia with generally satisfactory outcomes. National polls make it clear that Australians want to have this possibility available to them as they approach the end of their lives. The issue has been extensively debated in the past in both state and federal parliaments, but has been heavily opposed by a small but highly influential segment of the Australian population  Our report presents both sides of the argument and concludes in favour of legislative action to protect doctors and patients alike who wish to choose assisted dying.

Co-author of the report, legal academic Professor Ben White said:

The current law on voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide is flawed. The law lacks coherence and there is a body of evidence that shows it is not being followed. Reform is needed.

Professor Baume has been a practising clinician, public health academic, Senator, Federal Health Minister and Chancellor of the Australian National University. He undertook published research into the attitudes and practices of Australian doctors to euthanasia during the 1990s. He also participated in the Australia21 roundtable discussion which prompted this report.

Contact:      Emeritus Professor Bob Douglas   0409 233 138

   Professor Ben White                      0422 538 895

Political support for pragmatic drug policies

The former British Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, who died this week, was universally regarded as a no-nonsense 'conviction politician'.

Few know of her important role in the early adoption and vigorous implementation of a needle exchange programme to control the spread of HIV in the United Kingdom. At that stage, in 1986, the Netherlands was the only country in the world to have started a similar policy. The discovery of the condition, now referred to as HIV/AIDS, was first announced to the world on 5 June 1981. It was clear very early on that this condition was a serious health, social and economic threat to the world but little was known about the nature and extent of this threat.

Mrs Thatcher accepted the recommendation to establish a national needle exchange programme to slow the spread of HIV among and from people who inject drugs. The recommendation was made by a UK committee established to develop an effective response to HIV. The UK needle exchange programme undoubtedly prevented many HIV infections and much needless suffering as well as saving many lives and many pounds. Mrs Thatcher's decision influenced many other countries to adopt needle syringe programs. Australia's first needle syringe programme was established on 12 November 1986 as an act of civil disobedience and prompted the then NSW Government to establish a state wide system. All other states and territories followed within two years.

Many assume that pragmatic drug policies are generally a product of left wing political parties and governments. This is not so. The experience of Mrs Thatcher in establishing a needle exchange programme in the UK in 1986 and President Nixon establishing a national methadone treatment programme in the USA in 1969 are examples of conservative politicians adopting pragmatic drug policies. Both were excellent decisions though still often criticised.

On 2 April 1985, the then Prime Minister of Australia (Mr Bob Hawke) convened a 'Special Premier's Conference' (the 'Drug Summit') at which it was agreed by all eight governments represented (the Commonwealth, six states, the Northern Territory) that 'harm minimisation' would henceforth be Australia's official national drug policy. At the time, five of the governments were Labor while three (Queensland, Bjelke-Petersen; Tasmania, Gray; and Northern Territory, Tuxworth) were centre-right (National, Liberal and Country Liberal respectively). For many years, Australia's response to HIV and drug policy enjoyed bi-partisan support. All nine Australian governments have continued to support harm minimisation since 1985 whatever the political hue of the party or parties forming government.