Dr David Helliwell - GP

I wandered into the field of addiction medicine as a country GP in Nimbin, NSW in the 1980s. Following an outbreak of Hepatitis B, I established the first rural needle and syringe exchange in NSW. Shortly after I established the first rural methadone clinic in NSW. In 2000 I helped establish Riverlands, a regional drug and alcohol service in Lismore covering Northern NSW between Tweed Heads and Grafton. In 2004 I was awarded Foundation Fellowship of the Chapter of Addiction Medicine at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. I am currently the Clinical Lead for Addiction Medicine, Northern NSW Local health District. I continue to follow my passion for addiction medicine and am also actively involved in teaching medical students as a Senior Lecturer at Sydney University through Lismore’s University College of Rural Health.

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18 July 2023

Co-signee to "Urgent vaping law reform needed in Australia" that endorsed concerns of the 

Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ANACAD), that the prescription policy is failing and that the Minister's proposed vaping crackdown will only make things worse.

Letter>>

29 May 2023 - Letter To Mark Butler

Letter-to-the-Health-Minister-1June2023-FINAL4 29 May 2023.pdf

Download PDF • 941KB

2 February 2022 - Response to the (TGA) scheduling delegates’ interim decision on nicotine.