• Committee Members

International Liaison/Education

jo baxter

Josephine Baxter
Executive Officer

  • 2008-present - Vice President, World Federation Against Drugs
  • 2009-present - Member of the International Task force on Strategic Drug Policy
  • 2007-2010 - Member of the Australian National Council on Drugs
  • 2003-2007 Community Services and Health Consultant - (Drug and Alcohol) 
  • 2004-2005 - Community Relations Manager – Odyssey House Victoria
  • 2002-2004 - National Director – Programs and Training, Life Education Australia, NSW
  • 2001-2002 - Project Manager, Offshore Licensing (India & Bangladesh), Centre for International Education and Training
  • 2000-2001 - Chief Executive – Life Education, SA

Overseas Project Experience:

  • 2008 to present, Vice President, World Federation Against Drugs and Member of the International Task Force on Strategic Drug Policy
  • 2007 – Conference presentation, ICAA Conference, Stockholm
  • 2004 – Conference presentation, Tobacco Control Conference, Helsinki
  • 2003 – United States of America – AER Foundation Research Scholarship, ‘Life Skills Training’, Cornell University, USA
  • 2001-2002 – Bangladesh and India – Program Manager, Offshore Licensing, Centre for International Education and Training, TAFESA
  • 1999 - United States of America – OTFE Research Scholarship – ‘Learning Organisations and Life Long Learning’.
  • 1999 - United States, Europe and Ireland – established credit transfer links and articulation arrangements for international students and staff exchanges
  • 1997 – Florence, Italy – Curriculum Designer – William Angliss Institute
  • 1983-84 Malaysia – Orientation Counsellor, United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Kuala Lumpur.

 

jo baxter

Dr Ross Colquhoun

He has completed Undergraduate and Post Graduate degrees in Science, Health Science, Neuroscience and Counselling:

Doctor of Health Science, Deacon University,

Master of Applied Science (Neuroscience), Sydney University

Bachelor of Science (Hons), University of Wollongong

Graduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy, Jansen Newman Institute

He has worked in welfare and drug and alcohol programs at different institutions including the Orana House Detox Centre, St Saviours in Goulburn, Triple Care Farm at Robertson, Australian Institute for Counselling in Addiction, the Salvation Army and Belfield Aged Care Facility. He t taught at University of Wollongong, Aust College of Applied Psychology and West Wollongong TAFE and had experience in a training environment while working for P&P as a contractor in Sydney and Wollongong. 

He was the Clinical Director of Addiction Treatment and Psychology Services and worked as a counsellor and conducted relevant research for over 15 years.

He joined DFA in 2008 and was appointed as Research Fellow and sat on the Management Committee a number of years. During that time, he has written many academic papers dealing with addiction and treatment and attended the Asia Pacific Drug Free Forum as the Australian representative in Singapore in 2019.

Chairman

BoardBrianWatters

Major Brian Watters AO
Former Vice President, INCB (UN)

  • Arts Degree from Newcastle (NSW) University, majoring in Medical Sociology.  
  • Qualified Psychiatric Chaplain and trained at Newcastle University in Addictions Counselling. 
  • In 1998 he was appointed by Prime Minister John Howard as The Chairman of the Australian National Council on Drugs, the peak Drugs Policy Advisory Body to the Australian Federal Government. 
  • A member of the National Board of Drug Arm Australia; 
  • Board Member of Drug Free Australia;
  • Member of the Leadership Council of International Substance Abuse and Addiction Coalition.
  • Past President of the N.S.W. Network of Alcohol and Drug Agencies with a Membership of more than 100 Agencies.  
  • Served on the N.S.W. Health Minister’s Drug Advisory Council.
  • In 2005 he was elected by ECOSOC to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) of the United Nations – based in Vienna.
  • In 2007 appointed Vice President of the INCB

Secretary


Mr. Gary Christian
Specialist Researcher – AOD and Community Health

Community Interests:

  • 1980-1988 - Coordinated the Eastern Suburbs Five Day Plan to Stop Smoking
  • 1986-1987 - Co-writer of the Quit Now Stop Smoking Program
  • 1999 - Co-founder of the Cabramatta ADRAcare Centre for drug dependent and homeless people of the area
  • 2000-2003 - President of Hassela Australia Teen Drug Rehabilitation program
  • 1992-2009 - senior management in the Australian welfare industry
  • 2003-present - Research Director, Drug Free Australia

Website liaison-Cannabis Research

Mr. Herschel Mills Baker
President - APFDFY

Community Interests:

  • 1999 Parent Drug Education Courses: Mary River Lions Club Seminar; Quota Club; Baptist Church, Hervey Bay
  • Block Coordinator of Neighborhood Watch
  • Member of Police Liaison Committee
  • Member of Blue Light Disco Committee (Security)
  • Member of Maryborough Police Youth Association (Treasurer)
  • Project Manager for establishing PCYC at Maryborough
  • Project Manager 5 year Operation Road Runner, 1991 -1996
  • Project Manager for 5 year Road Runner 2
  • President and Founding Member of Australian Parents for Drug Free Youth, since 1986
  • Coordinator for APFDFY Education Web Site, since 1997
  • Facilitator for Drug Stop
  • Member of Tough Love
  • 1986-present - DFA Researcher and Publications Director focussing on  Cannabis Harms

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Let Australians know new, real harms of cannabis
Please support the Taskforce Go Fund Me

New scientific studies published in some of the world’s best medical journals (see link below for the studies) are showing that cannabis is likely causal in twice as many cancers as tobacco, as well as most birth defects. Massive population studies are now confirming what decades of laboratory research into the physiological effects of cannabis had already discovered. Yet the media mostly refuses to cover press releases from drug prevention organisations drawing attention to these studies, leaving medicinal and recreational cannabis users in the dark about the damage it is doing. Its damage to mental health is likewise being largely ignored by the media. DFA request your support for this very important gofundme cause.

Visit the GoFund me Page

 

Click here to download a 15 page documents giving the latest science on cannabis

 

 

Click here to download Cannabis and Hemp Scientific Review

 

 

THE SAVE YOUR BRAIN ALCOHOL & DRUG EDUCATION RESOURCE

PUTS PREVENTION FIRST

Drug Free Australia will soon offer new suite of health education modules, with a focus on Drug Use Prevention. ‘Save Your Brain’ (SYB) focuses age-appropriate resources from Year 5, through Middle School and into the Senior Secondary school level. In particular, it focusses on the impact of alcohol and other drugs on the brain. It also looks at protective factors to give teens the 'tools' to be able to negotiate anti-social requests in peer pressure situations.

Save Your Brain. Your feedback is welcome: go to: Feedback Form | Save Your Brain

Save Your Brain Resource


Check out the Drug Free Australia LIBRARY which covers a wide range of data regarding your field of endeavor. 

Check out the Drug Free Australia RECOMMENDED WEBSITES. These NGO’s  covers the best up-to-date data  regarding recovery, prevention and education on the world wide web.

 

"Jocelyn Rodriguez, 19, a Wendy's employee, told The New York Times that when she heard Ramos was the shooter, she was initially shocked, but then less surprised. She knew him to have a bad temper and to snap at people. He said he had a tendency to pick fights with co-workers and would often talk about how much he hated his mother and grandmother, whom he told her did not let him smoke weed or do what he wanted." Uvalde killer also shot his Grandmother first. (Read More)

 

One Voice One Message GLOBAL SUPPORT FOR A DRUG-FREE LIFESTYLE

 

 

 

 

Chronic Marijuana Use and Violence – Linked?

 

 

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