Vaping cartoon aims to prevent generation of addiction
Anti-vaping program OurFutures has been approved for the national curriculum until 2028, involving an interactive cartoon co-designed by students and teachers telling early teens about the effects of vaping and how to refuse one.
Those who received the cartoon education were less likely to vape compared to those with a standard health education on the issue, according to a trial by the University of Sydney's Matilda Centre.
OurFutures is aimed at students in years 7 and 8, with the trial finding them 65 per cent less likely to vape or start vaping in the following 12 months.
"Education, prevention, demand reduction is a critical part of our vaping strategy, we've also been online supporting influencers to promote positive messages about vaping or healthy messages about vaping online," Health Minister Mark Butler told reporters in announcing government approval for the program on Tuesday.
The Matilda Centre's Lauren Gardner said the average onset age for vaping is 14, and harmful patterns can be prevented by targeting the age group.
The characters are also teens as students are more likely to accept "peer-to-peer" messaging than from authority figures such as teachers or police.
"It allows them to immerse themselves in that story and think 'OK, if one of my peers can do it this way, this is how I can apply it in my own way'," Dr Gardner said.
The rollout comes as the government continues cracking down on the regulated substance, with vapes only able to be legally purchased from pharmacies.
Almost $500 billion worth of illicit vapes have been seized at the border since January 2024, but vape shops and tobacconists are leading a rise in black market sales according to a report by research project Generation Vape.
Mr Butler said while that remains an issue, it is more expensive to buy a vape now than previously.
Since tighter laws on the flavoured-air substances came into effect in July 2024, smoking rates have increased and vaping rates have only slightly decreased among adults, data from Roy Morgan has shown.
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Mercury
3 days ago
- Mercury
Taking on the deadliest illnesses no one is talking about
Don't miss out on the headlines from Stockhead. Followed categories will be added to My News. Eating disorders are among the deadliest mental health disorders Prevalence among kids 10-19 has almost doubled in last decade Eating disorders cost Australia $67 billion every year in economic and wellbeing losses We've all had those thoughts. Maybe I should cut down on the beers. I guess I should go for walk. I should probably eat better. Maybe I could stand to lose a little extra weight here and there. Body dissatisfaction is a pretty universal experience, but for many it's a temporary thought, a passing moment of discomfort quickly forgotten. For too many people, especially young people, those uncomfortable, niggling thoughts have become a daily mantra they can't ignore – and it's almost certainly killing them. A matter of life and death Eating disorders are widely acknowledged as the deadliest psychological issues a person can be diagnosed with. That fact is further complicated by comorbidity; a startling 90% of people with eating disorders also have depression, with two thirds simultaneously suffering from an anxiety disorder. While that combination is deadly on its own – someone with Anorexia Nervosa is 18-times more likely to die by suicide, and those with Bulimia Nervosa seven-times more likely – the leading cause of death among people with severe eating disorders is cardiovascular damage. The compulsions that come with eating disorders starve the body of nutrients and energy, damaging everything from the heart and bones to the digestive and immune systems. Even worse, the growing epidemic of eating disorders is becoming entrenched in schools and on social media, affecting younger and younger people during vulnerable periods of social and physical growth. 'Eating disorders among children and young people aged 10-19 has almost doubled in the last decade,' said Dr Jim Hungerford, CEO of eating disorder not-for-profit Butterfly. 'Every month 100 people die from, and 10,000 develop, an eating disorder, and it is critical that the government invest to stop this emerging crisis in eating disorders.' A national crisis Deloitte's report, Paying the Price, underscores the heavy toll eating disorders take not just on individuals and families, but on our wider society, too. Eating disorders cost Australia $67 billion every year in economic and wellbeing losses. In February, Minister for Health Mark Butler called eating disorders 'a national crisis' – the federal government has earmarked $70 million in grants for programs to research and treat them. At the moment, treatment for eating disorders is almost entirely based on psychological interventions like cognitive behavioural therapy, family therapy, or more structured and specialised treatments like the Maudsley model of anorexia treatment for adults (MANTRA). These treatments often have good outcomes; some 60% of anorexia nervosa patients receiving enhanced CBT treatments recover to a healthy weight. Unfortunately, there are few alternatives for the 40% of patients that don't respond well to psychological intervention. There are currently no approved pharmacological treatment options at all, although some doctors treat their patients off-label with drugs approved for other mental health conditions. More direct types of intervention are quite recent – researchers are exploring everything from deep brain stimulation to hormone therapies and psychedelics like ketamine or psilocybin. It's a new frontier of medicine, led almost entirely by a handful of intrepid pioneers scattered across the globe. Hitting reset on neural pathways Interest in psychedelic compounds as a basis for psychological treatment has gained a lot of attention in recent years. Medicinal compounds based on marijuana, MDMA, ketamine and psilocybin or psilocin from magic mushrooms have been touted as miracle drugs set to revolutionise the treatment of mental health disorders. While we haven't obtained those lofty goals just yet, psychedelic compounds are already showing an incredible amount of promise in mental health disorders resistant to traditional psychological or medical intervention. The research is still thin on the ground, but it's thought these compounds have a 'resetting' effect on neurological pathways, disrupting habitual ingrained behaviours and encouraging new connections between different regions of the brain. You can imagine them a bit like a cleansing flood, washing away the old, worn and rutted pathways of the brain and offering a chance to forge new ones in their place. Companies such as Tryptamine Therapeutics (ASX:TYP) are working to transform these powerful compounds – once the realm of medicine men and shamans – into something the TGA or FDA can get behind. TYP is developing two such medicines; an intravenous (IV) infused synthetic psilocin compound, and an oral synthetic psilocybin compound, both designed to offer precise dosing options without adverse effects. The company's main focuses are binge eating disorder (BED) and illnesses that induce chronic pain like fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome. BED is the most common eating disorder in the US and the second most common in Australia, representing a high unmet need. 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Both Tryptamine Therapeutics and its Israeli brethren Shortwave Life Sciences are working to unlock the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics while side-stepping the more intense adverse effects they can illicit in people. They're attempting to take the guesswork out of dosage and adverse impact by producing synthetic versions of psilocin and psilocybin compounds that are highly controlled, offering more predictable outcomes. Shortwave is focused mostly on Anorexia Nervosa, one of the deadliest eating disorders. The company is developing an oral drug combining psilocybin with a beta carboline, a type of tryptamine compound associated with neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine that directly influence mood. Shortwave is still in the pre-clinical stages with its drug combination, but early studies are indicating a good safety profile and active metabolisation. 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Courage Therapeutics is focusing on leveraging these proteins to directly hack into neurological circuits in the hypothalamus. Also at the pre-clinical stage, animal studies in mammals have shown great promise in influencing feeding behaviours and weight management. A rat animal model using CRISPR technology to induce MC3R deficiency showed a significant reduction in both body weight and decreased food intake, while those with an MC4R deficiency increased food intake and gained body weight compared to the control group. A long path ahead While research into pharmacological interventions for eating disorders is still in very early stages, the results so far have been incredibly encouraging. The science seems sound, but proving these treatments are not only effective but safe and predictable will take years of clinical trials and testing. The Butterfly Foundation is calling for urgent investment in eating disorder research as the number of people suffering from them rises year by year. 'We were incredibly disappointed that there was zero new funding for eating disorder prevention or treatment in the Australian government's 2025-26 budget announcement on March 25,' Dr Hungerford said, 'nor in the budget response from the Coalition.' 'It is clear from latest research that people in Australia want to know why. Without government investment in prevention, the consequences will be catastrophic. 'The time for talk is over, the time for action for the more than 1 million people living with an eating disorder is now.' At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Tryptamine Therapeutics is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article. This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions. Originally published as Disorder to go: Tackling the deadliest psychological illnesses no one is talking about
The Advertiser
3 days ago
- The Advertiser
Quad bike standards saving lives as crackdown urged
Farmers, their families and workers are returning home safely after a day on the land due to stronger quad bike safety standards, but tougher enforcement could save even more lives. Quad bikes have long been a leading cause of deaths on farms, with 10 fatalities in 2024 and 46 reports of injuries, according to Farmsafe Australia. National standards introduced in 2020 require vehicle stability testing, along with the installation of anti-crush devices that keep quad bikes off the ground if they roll over. Researchers have used coronial records to analyse 161 work-related quad bike deaths on farms between 2001 and 2024 to understand the effects of the new standards. Roll-overs were responsible for 65 per cent of those fatalities, according to the review published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health on Friday. Chest injuries caused deaths in more than half the cases, including instances of asphyxia, and a further 24 per cent involved head injuries. But there was a small reduction in fatalities in the few years after the safety standards came into force, academics from the University of Sydney's School of Rural Health found. Lead author Tony Lower said it was early days for the standards and fewer fatalities could be expected as new quad bikes replaced the older fleet. "They are a really effective vehicle, but we just need to see them designed safely and used safely," said Dr Lower, an honorary associate professor at AgHealth Australia. Victoria led the decline in fatalities, possibly due to greater enforcement of the standards than other states. Authorities issued 1200 prohibition or improvement notices to Victorian users in recent years, compared to 60 in NSW. While people don't always like enforcement, it has proven effective in areas such as road trauma, Dr Lower said. "Everyone should get home at the end of the day," he told AAP. With estimates of more than 20,000 anti-crush devices in use across Australia, there were no deaths involving vehicles fitted with roll bars, the paper said. But there were fatalities related to quad bikes where the devices had been installed and then removed. The Farmsafe Australia report, released in mid-July, showed fatalities from side-by-side vehicles had overtaken quad bike and tractor accident deaths for the first time in 2024. Side-by-side vehicles were thought to be a safer alternative to quad bikes, but riders died or were injured when they carried heavy loads, did not use seatbelts or went without a helmet. Engineering and design standards could only go so far, Dr Lower said. "There is certainly a role for farmers, producers and parents and everybody else that works and lives on farms to ensure they do the right thing." Farmers, their families and workers are returning home safely after a day on the land due to stronger quad bike safety standards, but tougher enforcement could save even more lives. Quad bikes have long been a leading cause of deaths on farms, with 10 fatalities in 2024 and 46 reports of injuries, according to Farmsafe Australia. National standards introduced in 2020 require vehicle stability testing, along with the installation of anti-crush devices that keep quad bikes off the ground if they roll over. Researchers have used coronial records to analyse 161 work-related quad bike deaths on farms between 2001 and 2024 to understand the effects of the new standards. Roll-overs were responsible for 65 per cent of those fatalities, according to the review published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health on Friday. Chest injuries caused deaths in more than half the cases, including instances of asphyxia, and a further 24 per cent involved head injuries. But there was a small reduction in fatalities in the few years after the safety standards came into force, academics from the University of Sydney's School of Rural Health found. Lead author Tony Lower said it was early days for the standards and fewer fatalities could be expected as new quad bikes replaced the older fleet. "They are a really effective vehicle, but we just need to see them designed safely and used safely," said Dr Lower, an honorary associate professor at AgHealth Australia. Victoria led the decline in fatalities, possibly due to greater enforcement of the standards than other states. Authorities issued 1200 prohibition or improvement notices to Victorian users in recent years, compared to 60 in NSW. While people don't always like enforcement, it has proven effective in areas such as road trauma, Dr Lower said. "Everyone should get home at the end of the day," he told AAP. With estimates of more than 20,000 anti-crush devices in use across Australia, there were no deaths involving vehicles fitted with roll bars, the paper said. But there were fatalities related to quad bikes where the devices had been installed and then removed. The Farmsafe Australia report, released in mid-July, showed fatalities from side-by-side vehicles had overtaken quad bike and tractor accident deaths for the first time in 2024. Side-by-side vehicles were thought to be a safer alternative to quad bikes, but riders died or were injured when they carried heavy loads, did not use seatbelts or went without a helmet. Engineering and design standards could only go so far, Dr Lower said. "There is certainly a role for farmers, producers and parents and everybody else that works and lives on farms to ensure they do the right thing." Farmers, their families and workers are returning home safely after a day on the land due to stronger quad bike safety standards, but tougher enforcement could save even more lives. Quad bikes have long been a leading cause of deaths on farms, with 10 fatalities in 2024 and 46 reports of injuries, according to Farmsafe Australia. National standards introduced in 2020 require vehicle stability testing, along with the installation of anti-crush devices that keep quad bikes off the ground if they roll over. Researchers have used coronial records to analyse 161 work-related quad bike deaths on farms between 2001 and 2024 to understand the effects of the new standards. Roll-overs were responsible for 65 per cent of those fatalities, according to the review published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health on Friday. Chest injuries caused deaths in more than half the cases, including instances of asphyxia, and a further 24 per cent involved head injuries. But there was a small reduction in fatalities in the few years after the safety standards came into force, academics from the University of Sydney's School of Rural Health found. Lead author Tony Lower said it was early days for the standards and fewer fatalities could be expected as new quad bikes replaced the older fleet. "They are a really effective vehicle, but we just need to see them designed safely and used safely," said Dr Lower, an honorary associate professor at AgHealth Australia. Victoria led the decline in fatalities, possibly due to greater enforcement of the standards than other states. Authorities issued 1200 prohibition or improvement notices to Victorian users in recent years, compared to 60 in NSW. While people don't always like enforcement, it has proven effective in areas such as road trauma, Dr Lower said. "Everyone should get home at the end of the day," he told AAP. With estimates of more than 20,000 anti-crush devices in use across Australia, there were no deaths involving vehicles fitted with roll bars, the paper said. But there were fatalities related to quad bikes where the devices had been installed and then removed. The Farmsafe Australia report, released in mid-July, showed fatalities from side-by-side vehicles had overtaken quad bike and tractor accident deaths for the first time in 2024. Side-by-side vehicles were thought to be a safer alternative to quad bikes, but riders died or were injured when they carried heavy loads, did not use seatbelts or went without a helmet. Engineering and design standards could only go so far, Dr Lower said. "There is certainly a role for farmers, producers and parents and everybody else that works and lives on farms to ensure they do the right thing." Farmers, their families and workers are returning home safely after a day on the land due to stronger quad bike safety standards, but tougher enforcement could save even more lives. Quad bikes have long been a leading cause of deaths on farms, with 10 fatalities in 2024 and 46 reports of injuries, according to Farmsafe Australia. National standards introduced in 2020 require vehicle stability testing, along with the installation of anti-crush devices that keep quad bikes off the ground if they roll over. Researchers have used coronial records to analyse 161 work-related quad bike deaths on farms between 2001 and 2024 to understand the effects of the new standards. Roll-overs were responsible for 65 per cent of those fatalities, according to the review published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health on Friday. Chest injuries caused deaths in more than half the cases, including instances of asphyxia, and a further 24 per cent involved head injuries. But there was a small reduction in fatalities in the few years after the safety standards came into force, academics from the University of Sydney's School of Rural Health found. Lead author Tony Lower said it was early days for the standards and fewer fatalities could be expected as new quad bikes replaced the older fleet. "They are a really effective vehicle, but we just need to see them designed safely and used safely," said Dr Lower, an honorary associate professor at AgHealth Australia. Victoria led the decline in fatalities, possibly due to greater enforcement of the standards than other states. Authorities issued 1200 prohibition or improvement notices to Victorian users in recent years, compared to 60 in NSW. While people don't always like enforcement, it has proven effective in areas such as road trauma, Dr Lower said. "Everyone should get home at the end of the day," he told AAP. With estimates of more than 20,000 anti-crush devices in use across Australia, there were no deaths involving vehicles fitted with roll bars, the paper said. But there were fatalities related to quad bikes where the devices had been installed and then removed. The Farmsafe Australia report, released in mid-July, showed fatalities from side-by-side vehicles had overtaken quad bike and tractor accident deaths for the first time in 2024. Side-by-side vehicles were thought to be a safer alternative to quad bikes, but riders died or were injured when they carried heavy loads, did not use seatbelts or went without a helmet. Engineering and design standards could only go so far, Dr Lower said. "There is certainly a role for farmers, producers and parents and everybody else that works and lives on farms to ensure they do the right thing."
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
No red flags in one doctor's 72,000 scripts, cannabis giant insists
Staley said Montu was 'proud of [its] sector-leading approach', claiming a mandatory 20-minute nurse consultation for every patient. Meanwhile, the federal medical regulator has stepped up investigations into doctors prescribing cannabis. More than 20 practitioners are under review for potentially putting profit ahead of patient safety. And discussion of the issue has prompted a prominent drug policy reform group to say broader cannabis reform is urgently needed, to allow 'carefully regulated adult-use cannabis access' that sits outside the medical system. This masthead revealed high-volume prescribing at Montu using leaked company documents that showed just eight of the company's doctors together issued 245,109 scripts in the two years to June 30 this year, an average of 295 scripts per doctor for a standard five-day working week. The revelations prompted alarm among medical experts and health officials about the scale and speed of prescribing in Australia's booming cannabis sector. Loading Federal Health Minister Mark Butler responded by warning of 'unscrupulous and possibly unsafe behaviour' in the industry. Asked on Monday about the 72,000 scripts, Butler said that while medicinal cannabis had provided 'a lot of relief to a lot of people, from kids with epilepsy right up to adults with really hard-to-treat mental health issues', there were 'some business practices that have emerged that are, frankly, unsafe and certainly unscrupulous'. He said he had asked regulators to advise all health ministers 'on how to regulate this industry in a more safe way.' The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency oversees doctors, nurses and other practitioners nationally. It has taken formal action against 57 practitioners over medicinal cannabis prescribing, and a rise in complaints from patients and health professionals led it to identify more than 20 practitioners, most of them red-flagged due to high patient and prescription numbers. An AHPRA spokesperson said these clinicians must justify their prescribing practices or face regulatory action. Montu, owner of the Alternaleaf brand, operates a vertically integrated model; its 120 nurses and doctors conduct telehealth consultations and its pharmacy arm dispenses products, including its in-house brands 'Circle' and 'Sundaze'. Since medical cannabis was legalised in 2016, the company's 'closed loop' model has put it at the forefront of the industry's rapid expansion. Montu's revenue grew from $103,000 in 2020 to $263 million in 2024. Its claims that its clinics are not high turnover are at odds with the experience of 10 of its former clinicians, speaking on background, who told this masthead that consultations were often extremely brief. One leaked document showed consultations were scheduled for 10 minutes, and clinicians said they were often far shorter. 'When you're starting to do five-minute sessions, you're literally not even talking to the patient,' one former prescribing doctor said in Monday's story. 'You're just giving them cannabis.' Concerns about the structure of the medicinal cannabis industry are also being raised by public health bodies. Dr Jake Dizard, director of research at the Penington Institute, said medicinal cannabis had delivered benefits to many but warned that the system was now being pushed well beyond its original intent. Loading 'Too often, unscrupulous doctors and companies are putting profits over patients' interests,' he said. Dizard said demand for cannabis in Australia was 'high and persistent, so leaving the medical system as the only legal access point creates bad incentives to expand client volume at the expense of quality care'. The ability of companies to both prescribe and dispense cannabis created conflicts of interest and transparency problems, he said. 'Medical cannabis shouldn't be an opaque industry where big companies both prescribe and dispense their own products.' Loading Dizard said broader cannabis reform might ultimately be necessary to relieve pressure on the medical system. 'Governments should embrace comprehensive cannabis legalisation and strict regulation to take pressure off the medical cannabis system. Separating out medicinal and non-medicinal cannabis and establishing carefully regulated adult-use cannabis access is an essential part of the solution.'
