Commercial determinants of health: Public health and the marketing and sales of alcohol, other drugs, and gambling

The Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs (APSAD) is the main multidisciplinary professional society in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand including professionals and researchers in the field of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, approached from a public health and welfare perspective.

APSAD’s 2024 one-day Symposium is concerned with the commercial determinants of health and the regulation of legal markets in the different commodities with which APSAD is concerned – alcohol, nicotine and other drugs and gambling. These commodities are all attractive, but on the other hand, the source of health and welfare problems, and so need to be controlled, limiting their marketing and sale in the interests of public health and welfare. Each commodity area has its own regulatory systems, and research and regulation can benefit from looking across the four areas.

The Symposium will thus consider issues in the marketing and availability of each area in turn: alcohol, gambling, cannabis, prescription medicines and tobacco/vaping. It will have a dedicated session exploring the role of technology in the regulation and research of these commodities, as well as a session on perspectives of Aboriginal peoples about the marketing and sale of these commodities. The final session of the day will be a panel on what can be learned across commodity areas for future research and regulation agendas.

Organisers: Robin Room, Cassandra Wright, Dan Anderson-Luxford & Paula O’Brien

Program Released

SPEAKERS

Professor Wayne Hall
Emeritus Professor, National Centre for Youth Substance Use, University of Queensland

Wayne Hall is an Emeritus Professor at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research at the University of Queensland and the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences.

Caterina Giorgi
CEO, Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education

Caterina Giorgi is the CEO of the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), an Australian not for profit organisation working towards an Australia free from alcohol harm.

Caterina is also a Founding Member of Women in Public Health, and a Director of For Purpose.

She has an honours degree in Public Health and is passionate about health equity.

Dr Cheneal Puljević
ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow, NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame

Dr Cheneal Puljević is an ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow at the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame at the School of Public Health. Cheneal is also a core research team member for the Global Drug Survey, an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Drug Policy, and the Queensland Research Lead for The Loop Australia.

Ms Liz Barrett
Research Officer, Drug Policy Modelling Program, UNSW

Liz is a researcher at DPMP, UNSW interested in all things drugs policy including markets, regulation and participation. She has undertaken research and analysis for the UNODC and for international and Australian governments on regulation of cannabis, alcohol and tobacco. Liz is also passionate about the human rights of people who use drugs and currently facilitates a national working group in Australia that advocates for greater harm reduction in prisons.

Professor Simone Pettigrew
Program Director, The George Institute for Global Health

Professor Simone Pettigrew is a Program Director at the George Institute for Global Health and a Research Professor in the School of Population Health at the University of New South Wales. She has qualifications in Economics, Marketing, and Consumer Psychology. Simone works across numerous commercial determinants of health, including alcohol, vaping, tobacco, gambling, and unhealthy food.