Indigenous Spiritual Wellbeing Toolbox

Urban

Urban drug users are likely to use grog and drugs differently to rural and remote users, and present with issues such as:

• higher rates of injecting drug users
• higher rates of ecstasy and other designer drug use
• sniffing of glue and solvents that are not readily available in communities
• feelings of loss of culture and belonging.

Services operating in urban areas are often not Indigenous specific and workers may not be aware of cultural differences and protocols.

Rural

Rural and remote regions have different patterns of grog and drug use to urban centres. Some issues facing rural grog and drug use include:

• rates of illegal drug use increasing rapidly and the age of users decreasing
• higher rates of alcohol and tobacco use
• young people being twice as likely to use alcohol.

Services running in rural and remote areas are more likely to be community driven projects employing local Indigenous people.

Remote

Remote areas have a range of grog and drug issues that result from their isolation. These include:

• petrol sniffing rates still increasing in many areas
• rapidly increasing use of illegal drugs, especially yarndi
• lack of access to employment and recreation opportunities
• lack of access to services.

Services running in remote communities are often restricted by their isolation from networks of support services, staff with specialised skills, training and funding.