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23 Jul 2019

Changing Australia’s drinking culture – DrinkWise and The Smashed Project

Health

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Changing Australia’s drinking culture – DrinkWise and The Smashed Project

This week we interview two organisations established by alcohol producers to change the way we drink … for the better.

Simon Strahan, CEO of DrinkWise, joins us to share how DrinkWise is working to develop a safer and healthier culture around drinking in Australia. DrinkWise is an independent, not-for-profit organisation funded through voluntary industry contributions across the alcohol sector.

How has Australia’s drinking culture changed over the past decade? Why are DrinkWise’s campaigns to improve the drinking habits of young people so effective? What messages resonate for different age groups as we learn to drink for quality, not quantity?

Tim Watts joins us on the phone to discuss The Smashed Project, funded by Diageo (a British multinational alcoholic beverages company). This project uses educational theatre to break the culture of underage drinking and reduce alcohol related harm amongst young people around the world. Tim is the head of Gibber, a drama-based education group delivering the training in Australia. They have trained in 268 schools in Australia as part of the aim of The Smashed Project to reach 500,000 students worldwide.

In the news, we hear about a new app to help realistically gauge our drinking habits. We share details of a report that the rates of drug-induced deaths are on the rise in Australia. And we look at medicinal cannabis. A study suggests it can be used to treat cannabis addiction. New clinics are opening up in Australia for people to access medicinal cannabis. And we remember Olivia Newton-John’s conversation with Charlie Pickering about its medicinal benefits.