Originating in the US, Communities that Care is a public health prevention framework that has been operating in Australia for 25 years.

Over 30 Local Government Areas have used the framework to reduce alcohol consumption, injuries and crime. In the US it has been used to also reduce smoking, cannabis and depression. An Australian cost benefit analysis has shown that using the CTC approach to adolescent alcohol consumption has a return of investment of $2.60.

This presentation outlines the Communities that Care model and how communities can use the model. It also presents findings from the National Australian Cluster Randomised Control Trial, and other national and international longitudinal evidence. (Watch Webinar Here)

Also see

• Why Prevention Matters and to Whom
• AOD Primary Prevention & Demand Reduction Priority Primer 
• Asia-Pacific Prevention Hearing 2024 – The Declaration of Oviedo
• Prevention Basics! #Prevention #Childfirst What Adults Need to Know — One Choice Prevention
• Protective Factor Number One in Drug Use Prevention Science
• Prevention & Demand Reduction: Denying or Delaying Substance Use in Communities – An Evidence-Based Best Practice Guide'

The opioid crisis continues to devastate communities across Canada and beyond, with recent research highlighting alarming treatment retention failures that underscore why prevention must be our primary defence. A comprehensive study examining opioid agonist therapy amongst First Nations people in Ontario reveals shocking statistics that every family, educator, and community leader must understand.

The Stark Reality of Opioid Addiction Treatment

New research tracking nearly 18,000 treatment episodes reveals a disturbing truth: prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to opioid addiction. The study found that:

• Half of all individuals discontinued their life-saving medication within just 42-71 days
• Over 70% of people failed to maintain treatment for a full year
• Treatment success rates have actually declined over time

These statistics aren’t just numbers—they represent thousands of lives disrupted, families torn apart, and communities struggling with addiction’s devastating impact.

Why Opioid Addiction Prevention Must Be Our Priority

The research demonstrates that even with the best medical interventions available, maintaining recovery from opioid addiction remains extraordinarily challenging. This reality makes opioid addiction prevention absolutely crucial for protecting our young people and communities.

The Treatment Retention Crisis

The study revealed several factors that made treatment failure more likely:

• Living with multiple health conditions
• Previous exposure to opioids
• Social isolation and lack of community support
• Geographic barriers to accessing ongoing care

These findings highlight how complex opioid addiction becomes once established, reinforcing why we must focus our efforts on stopping addiction before it starts.

Building Strong Opioid Addiction Prevention Strategies

Effective prevention requires understanding the pathways that lead to opioid addiction and implementing comprehensive strategies to block them:

Education and Awareness

• Comprehensive drug education programmes in schools
• Community awareness campaigns about prescription opioid risks
• Training for healthcare providers on responsible prescribing practices

Community-Based Prevention

• Youth engagement programmes that provide positive alternatives
• Family support networks that identify risk factors early
• Workplace education about opioid misuse dangers

Policy and Environmental Changes

• Stricter controls on opioid prescribing and monitoring
• Enhanced security measures for prescription medications
• Community policies that reduce access to illegal opioids

The Economic and Social Case for Prevention:

The research findings make a compelling economic argument for investing in opioid addiction prevention rather than treatment alone. When treatment success rates remain disappointingly low despite significant healthcare investment, prevention becomes not just morally imperative but financially prudent.

Communities that invest in robust prevention programmes see:

• Reduced healthcare costs over time
• Lower crime rates associated with drug-seeking behaviour
• Stronger family units and social cohesion
• Better educational and employment outcomes for young people

A Prevention-First Approach:

The sobering treatment retention statistics from this research should serve as a wake-up call for policymakers, educators, and community leaders. We cannot afford to wait until addiction has taken hold—we must act decisively to prevent it.

Prevention is worth a pound of cure, and when it comes to opioid addiction, this couldn’t be more true. Every young person we protect from initial opioid exposure is a life potentially saved from the devastating cycle of addiction and treatment failure.

The time for action is now. We must strengthen our prevention efforts, support our communities, and ensure that prevention remains our primary defence against the ongoing opioid crisis.

(Source: JAMA Network)

Overview:

This Policy Proposal has been designed for Australia with the hard learned lessons from other jurisdictions in mind. Ensuring faux claims of perceived manageability are addressed. Not only has there been considerable consultation with health, legal and policy professionals, but with the voice of the vast silent majority of non-substance users being heard. Informing and being informed by this majority demographic who have been kept in the dark on this now heavily engineered and dangerous psychotropic toxin.

Australians deserve best practice safety, health and wellbeing policy.

Alcohol and Tobacco are still the greatest contributors of harm to the public health and safety arena. Adding another psychotropic toxin to the currents of trade will only amplify and add to these growing community harms.

Once a substance is trivialised, normalised, decriminalised, legalised then commercialised – harms will increase and the human cost in short and long-term harms, not least to the emerging generation will be incalculable.

All that will be achieved is the greater accessibility, availability and acceptability of a now addictive and demand sustaining substance. Add to

that, commercialisation – you now have another thriving addiction for profit industry decimating public and community health, with impunity. This is completely contrary to good public health, safety and productivity.

This document will demonstrate that the Penington Institute modelling of vast sums of money to be garnered by the Victorian Government from tax revenues and increased employment will be far outweighed by the health and social costs presented by cannabis legalisation, and that the Penington document is culpably silent on the very real demonstrable costs that far outweigh its touted benefits.

The ‘Perfect Permission’ model of legalised substances has not removed the criminal dealer from the market place, and will not do so in Australia. If the argument is applied that ‘enforcement will ensure the regulated market will not be undermined or black market cannabis continues’, then we could argue that could be done now, whilst the substance is still technically illegal. It is all about political will.

The question then becomes not whether a substance can be policed, but whether there is the political will to police it in the best interest of public health, safety and wellbeing.

Download Policy Proposal Here

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Chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia, migraines, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) present with complex symptoms, often involving both physical sensations and intense emotional suffering. Recent neuroscience advances, particularly a July 2025 study from the Salk Institute, have identified a key brain circuit that gives pain its emotional tone, transforming our understanding of pain and paving the way for innovative management techniques. Evidence-based brain training aims to reshape neural pathways, empowering people to reduce and manage pain—even when traditional drugs fall short.

Key New Findings: The Affective Pain Circuit

A pivotal study published in July 2025 reveals that:

• A specific group of neurons in the thalamus, identified by their expression of CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide), forms a direct link between the sensory detection of pain and its emotional impact.
• This CGRP spinothalamic pathway relays pain signals from the spinal cord to a region of the thalamus connected to the amygdala, the brain’s emotion center.
• Silencing these neurons in mice eliminates the emotional suffering associated with pain—mice perceive the pain, but do not experience distress or learn to avoid it.
• Overactivation of this pathway may be a cause of chronic pain disorders (like fibromyalgia and migraine) and affective disorders (like PTSD), making the brain overreact to normal sensory inputs.

This has further insights and implications for Brain Training and Therapy practices, continuing to reduce the need for either pharmaceuticals or self-medication with non-pharmaceutical grade substances.

• Pain is not just about detection—it’s about how much the brain decides that pain matters emotionally.
• These findings confirm that targeting the affective (emotional) aspect of pain, not just the physical sensation, is crucial.
• Treatments that modulate this CGRP-affective circuit may offer new hope for conditions where pain’s emotional burden is a primary driver of disability.

Types of Evidence-Based Brain Training Interventions

1. Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)

• Teaches the brain to “unlearn” chronic pain by reframing pain as non-threatening and teaching safety.
• Could help quiet overactive affective circuits by changing the emotional meaning of pain.

2. Neurofeedback and Brainwave Training

• Uses real-time EEG feedback to help regulate brain rhythms associated with pain and emotional distress.
• May reduce the overactivity seen in the thalamus-amygdala circuit.

3. Sensory Relearning

• Retrains the brain’s response to sensory input, helping distinguish safe from threatening sensations and minimizing overreaction.

4. Cognitive Flexibility Training

• Engages tasks that enhance cognitive control, potentially reducing learned pain-related distress and disrupt habitual threat responses.

5. Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE)

• Helps patients understand the difference between pain sensation and pain suffering, reducing fear and emotional threat estimation. Now with new neuroscience backing regarding distinct brain circuits.

6. Emotional Regulation and Mind-Body Therapies

The July 2025 research underlines the value of approaches that reduce affective pain:

• Mindfulness, cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), and emotion regulation techniques may help downregulate CGRP pathway activity by promoting detachment from pain’s emotional tone.
• Newer therapies (e.g., emotion-focused groups) could target the “alarm” element of pain directly. (Complete Report: WRD News Special Report)

Abstract

The evolving crisis of drug addiction and its intersection with the criminal justice system has prompted critical reassessment of punitive legal models. This paper argues that meaningful rehabilitation is best achieved through judicially guided diversion rather than decriminalisation alone. Drawing from case studies such as Unit 104 at the Kenton County Detention Center, Portsmouth’s city-wide recovery initiatives, the Dalgarno Institute's advocacy for the "Judicial Educator" model, and innovative rehabilitative programs including animal-assisted therapy and financial literacy initiatives, this paper explores the integration of restorative justice, individualised treatment, and community-based alternatives to incarceration. By synthesising field-based innovations with a progressive vision for reform, the paper illustrates how shifting from punishment to rehabilitation promotes long-term public safety, reduces recidivism, and restores human dignity.

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