Saturday, November 04, 2006

Dope doctors head for the sunshine

Today off to the Australian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs (APSAD) Conference in Cairns from 5-8th November where I am presenting a paper on alcohol policies. This is mainly a medical conference with a small amount of economics thrown in - hence I am very much a consumer of information rather than a producer at such meetings.

Tomorrow I will go to NDARC’s National Drug Trends Conference and the Reckitt Benckiser Buprenorphine Symposium which run with the Conference.

Reckitt Benckiser make Suboxone which is a legal substitute for heroin and, if last year’s symposium is any guide, this meeting will involve a group of doctors and scientists telling us all how much better it is for junkies to be addicted to Suboxone than heroin. As Suboxone is often provided as a maintenance treatment for which demand is very inelastic it’s a great commercial proposition. I’ve always been tempted to ask the speakers whether they receive any financial rewards or other inducements to participate in this meeting but, at heart, I am a rather shy Victorian who hates to focus on issues of naked self-interest. But I do admit a twinge of curiosity and interest.

Posts for the few days might be sparse but I’ll certainly let my readers know if it is gloriously sunny in Cairns but cold and rainy with high winds in Melbourne.

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