You could say Associate Professor David Caldicott is a straight shooter, and he could not have been more direct when asked on national television earlier this year about the current discussion over pill testing.
“I think much of the discussion is now political. I think the science is pretty much resolved, and I wish I could tell you that this is going to solve itself pretty quickly, but it doesn’t really look like that,” Associate Professor Caldicott told ABC TV’s Q&A in February.
“I think, unfortunately – and I hate to be a Cassandra on this – I think the way that this is going to resolve is that there will be more deaths, and in the end, it will be a series of coronial reports that forces people’s political hands in different states and jurisdictions. That would be my prediction. It’s not one that gives me any pleasure, but that’s the way I think it’s going to pan out.”
It is these forthright views Associate Professor Caldicott will share when he takes to the stage as a keynote speaker at this year’s Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM).
Hobart 2019 - Registrations Now Open
The ASM returns to beautiful Hobart.
To run from 17-21 November, you are invited to come to the city and push the boundaries of what’s possible and necessary for a stimulating 21st century medical conference.
Come to Hobart, try something a little bit different and a little bit fancy.
Come to Hobart to experience “The Changing Climate of Emergency Medicine”.
Visit the ASM website for more information about the program, speakers and venue.
Registrations are now open. Register now.
Pioneer of pill testing in Australia
Associate Professor Caldicott led Australia’s first pill testing operation at the Groove in the Moo festival in Canberra in August 2018.
He is an Emergency Consultant at the Emergency Department of the in Canberra Calvary Hospital and a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine at the Australian National University. He is also a spokesperson for the Australian Science Media Centre on issues of illicit drug use and the medical response to terrorism and disasters.
He designed and piloted the Welsh pill testing program known as Emergency Department Investigation of Novel Substances (WEDINOS) , a unique program using regional emergency departments to monitor the emergence and spread of novel illicit products associated with harm. He has replicated this work in Australia with the ACT Investigation of Novel Substances (ACTINOS) Group.
Associate Professor Caldicott is a staunch advocate for harm reduction, maintaining that drugs policy is an issue of public health, and not political morality.
Second pill-testing trial
Associate Professor Caldicott said a second pill-testing trial, held at the Groove in the Moo festival in Canberra in April, was a success.
"Our goal is to ensure that people don't get hurt or killed consuming drugs,” he told the ABC.
“And if we can change the way people are using drugs to start with, then we might be able to change their attitude to drugs in their entirety.”
The Medical Republic also covered the second pill-testing trial. Read the article.
In an opinion piece in The Australian in late 2018, Associate Professor Caldicott explained what was driving him in his advocacy for harm reduction.
“I’m a simple emergency doctor, a jack of all trades, just interested in what works. And what NSW and many jurisdictions are doing in Australia is just not working. I don’t have to be tactful about this — as an emergency doctor, I belong to a tribe pretty notorious for being 'solutions driven'. My mandate comes from patients, and those who seem determined to become them,” he wrote.