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Papua New Guinea (PNG) is an Asia Pacific country that we hear little about in the drug and alcohol area. Recently at the APEC meeting in Chile, the Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, announced that PNG would be one of the countries of focus with regards to public health programs and HIV AIDS assistance by Australia in the future. This is a timely report of a rapid situation assessment (RSA) of drug use and drug-related harm in Papua New Guinea (PNG) conducted in 1998?–?1999, with comments on developments since that time. The author of this paper, David McDonald, was appointed as the international consultant to work with the PNG National Narcotics Bureau to undertake an assessment of drug use in PNG, and is well-equipped to report on the drug and alcohol situation in that country. The rapid assessment study was conducted to provide up-to-date, factual information about drugs in PNG that could contribute to the development of a national drug strategy for PNG. The focus was on illegal drugs in accordance with the mandates of the auspicing bodies – namely cannabis and home-brewed alcohol. In keeping with the methodology for rapid assessment, the author utilised multiple information sources including published literature, administrative by-product data, case studies, a key informants' study and structured interviews with drug users. It was found that alcohol – both licit and home brew, as well as high potency cannabis, were the major substance problems in PNG. This paper, based on a more detailed report available through the author, provides a snap-shot of substance use problems in PNG. However, the author reports that problems in public sector management within and external to the sponsoring agency, the National Narcotics Bureau, have meant that the proposed national drug control strategy has not yet been developed. [McDonald D. A rapid situation assessment of drug use in Papua New Guinea. Drug Alcohol Rev 2005;24:79–82] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review covers published information on psychoactive drugs, particularly cannabis, in Papua New Guinea. Legal drugs are mentioned to place the illegal drugs into a broader public health context. Although a number of psychoactive drugs were used traditionally (and are used now), cannabis is the only illicit drug for which prevalence of use is currently not negligible. Very little epidemiology research on cannabis use and its individual and public health sequelae has been conducted, although a fuller criminology literature on the topic exists. The published cannabis use prevalence studies are limited in scope, and the most-cited one is of questionable accuracy. The complex interactions between the health of individuals and their social environments are highlighted by the destructive impacts that cannabis cultivation, trafficking and use are having in contemporary PNG.