*️⃣Dr Alex Wodak AM - Former director of the Alcohol and Drug Service, St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, 1982-2012
- Pippa Starr
- May 7
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 23
*️⃣Alex endorses ALIVE's Official Vaping Policy
Alexander David Wodak, AM is a physician and the former[1] director of the Alcohol and Drug Service, at St Vincent's Hospital, in Sydney, Australia.[2][3][4]
Wodak is a notable advocate of drug reform laws. Wodak helped establish the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, the NSW Users AIDS Association, and the Australian Society of HIV Medicine. Wodak is President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation and was President of the International Harm Reduction Association. Wodak also helped open Australia's first needle exchange programme and the first medically supervised injecting centre in Kings Cross.[5]
A portrait of him by artist Nick Mourtzakis was a 2009 Archibald Prize finalist.[6] In the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for "service to medicine and public health, particularly in the area of drug and alcohol dependency treatment, through legislative reform, and to medical education".[7]
Alex was also President of the International Harm Reduction Association from 1996 to 2004. He helped establish the first needle syringe programme and the first medically supervised injecting centre in Australia when both were pre-legal. Dr Wodak often works in developing countries on HIV control among injecting drug users. He contributed in 2011 to the Global Commission on Drug Policy. He is a Director of Australia21 and contributed to their report on drug policy. In 2010, Dr Wodak was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
10 February 2025 - Our Study Spotlights How Vaping Can Reduce Health Disparities
Nicotine vaping can significantly reduce health inequalities for low-income and Indigenous communities, suggests a new study published in the Addiction journal, which I co-authored.
My colleagues and I examined trends in daily smoking and vaping in Australia and New Zealand from 2016 to 2023. We found that smoking declined up to three times more rapidly in disadvantaged and Indigenous communities in New Zealand compared to Australia, reflecting New Zealand’s higher vaping rate.
18 July 2023 - Co-signee to "Urgent vaping law reform needed in Australia"
29 May 2023 - Letter To Mark Butler
5 November 2020 - Submission to the Senate Select Committee on Tobacco Harm Reduction
"Tobacco harm reduction should be easy for Australia to accept and implement. Australia officially endorses harm reduction in its National Tobacco Strategy. Harm reduction is accepted as part of Australia’s National Drug Strategy of harm minimisation (along with supply reduction and demand reduction). In addition, harm reduction is part of the 2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which Australia has signed. But instead tobacco harm reduction has become divisive and polarising. Why?" Full documnet here:🔻
August 2017 - Proposed Amendments to the Poisons Standard
Co-signee, source>>
