Identifying and preventing health problems among young drug-misusing offenders

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the health problems and treatment needs of drug-misusing offenders and to draw out the implications of the findings for health education and prevention. Design/methodology/approach – This analysis is based on data collected as part of the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) programme. The survey was based on interviews and urine sample collection with over 3,000 arrestees. Findings – The research found that young arrestees experienced a wide range of drug-related and general health problems. The implications of this are discussed in the context of programmes implemented as part of the government’s drug strategy. Originality/value – The NEW-ADAM surveys provide an original source of information on the drug and general health needs of young people at the first point of entry in the criminal justice system

Roots of conflict in Solomon Islands - though much is taken, much abides: legacies of tradition and colonialism

For many outsiders, the accelerating failure of governments in western Melanesia in the last decade has been difficult to understand. At independence, though their resources ranged from the rich diversity in Papua New Guinea to the less abundant, but still substantial in Solomon Islands, it seemed that with goodwill and some temporary assistance from developed nations in the region their future would be assured. Yet since independence, overall Melanesian living standards and personal security have declined; and more and more aid is being requested from donors. This essay seeks to answer the questions, “What went wrong in Solomon Islands? Why was the government overthrown in mid 2000? Why did civil war erupt mainly between Guadalcanal and Malaitan people?” The answers are to be found partly in recent regional and global factors that have impacted this state since independence, such as the Bougainville conflict, the fall in commodity prices in the 1980s, and the burgeoning of Neo-Classical economics in the West. More significant, however, are the deeper structures and patterns of the more distant past. This essay will first examine the nature of traditional Solomons’ societies and how these operated at the local level, the significance of local identity, and other enduring Melanesian values that continue to influence politics. The nature of Christianity and colonialism will next be considered because these have also left their mark, often changing the balance of population-resource ratios, encouraging greater mobility and raising expectations that have fostered dependence on global economic linkages. Regional expressions of social, economic and political ways and means emerged both before and after the Second World War, but these indigenous protest movements largely collapsed in the face of the colonial government’s opposition. This essay argues that independent governments have not fulfilled the aspirations they represented. Though Christianity in its various forms has become more naturalised, the political structures bequeathed by the British are foreign additions that have not sat well on the Melanesian foundation. Yet Solomon Islander politicians in the years since independence have done no more than tinker with them, because they have given such men a degree of personal power in the disposal of resources. The incongruities and failure of these structures to deliver good governance peaked in 2000, with conflict between the Guadalcanal and Malaitan militias. These incongruities remain still, in spite of some propping up of the semblance of government by interested outside nations and donor bodies.AusAI

Forestry, Public Land, and the Colonial Legacy in Solomon Islands

Independent Solomon Islands inherited lands that the colonial state had acquired and dedicated for forest use. Solomon Islanders became increasingly wary of the government's intentions regarding control of these lands and, by the late 1960s, as political consciousness increased, resistance grew to government purchase and reservation through legislation. Pressure by Solomon Islanders caused the colonial government to limit its attempts to control the forest resource for the public good, a process that accelerated after independence in 1978. Since then, in the face of an expanding Asian market for timber, the claims of resource owners and a revenue-seeking central government have seen frantic logging of customary land by mainly Asian logging companies, with little tangible return to Solomon Islanders. Provincial governments and rural communities are already demanding control of public lands, a demand that may be resisted by the central government as timber on customary land is worked out and plantation forests mature

Method and History of a Multidisciplinary Field Project: Population and Resources of South Guadalcanal, 1971-75

Reprinted from Yagl-Ambu, Volume 7, No. 2, June 1980. p. 47-76.Brief discussion in late 1969 between personnel in the Department of Agriculture and the University of Hawai'i led to the field survey that became known as the Guadalcanal Weather Coast Project.The project aimed to investigate the population-resource systems of south Guadalcanal and to assess the extent to which they were susceptible to change. In this paper, one of the staff supervisors details the project design and a student team member assesses its execution

Would YOU want to talk to a scientist at a party? High school students’ attitudes to school science and to science

This paper describes a four-year project involving the development of a new instrument, the Attitudes to School Science and Science instrument, and its use to collect baseline attitudinal data from 280 students aged 11, 14 and 16. A key feature of the instrument is that it collects both descriptive and explanatory data in a pencil-and-paper format. The data gathered is probed in detail for explanatory insights into features that have emerged from more recent research on attitudes to science, in particular the suggestions that students view science outside school more positively than their experiences in science lessons, and that the early years of secondary education (ages approximately 11 to 14) are the most crucial in shaping attitudes. The study shows that positive attitudes to school science decline significantly between the ages of 11 and 14, with little appreciable downward change beyond this and, in some cases, a slight upturn. Female students display less positive attitudes and less clear-cut views on a variety of aspects of science. A sense of science being important in general terms, though not having much appeal for individual students, also emerged clearly from the data. The paper suggests that attitudinal instruments have a role to play in research, but that these need to be complemented by studies of detailed features of schools that may influence attitudes, some of which may not be apparent from data collected from students