Dalgarno's No Brainer

12/06/2026

Micro Moments of Resilience https://youtube.com/shorts/qotqaK6nNV4?si=sK8csMyFNegfWcWu via

We're bombarded with messaging that glamorises unhealthy coping and...

12/06/2026

Thirty Years of Watching and Waiting: How Australia’s Drug Monitoring System Lost Sight of Prevention

In May 2026, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) marked thirty years of its Drug Trends program with a quiet announcement and a new bulletin series. NDARC framed the launch as a milestone: three decades of monitoring Australia’s drug markets, a commitment to drawing together multiple data sources, and a new series designed to make evidence more accessible to policymakers and health services. Yet for anyone watching Australian drug prevention policy, the milestone carries an uncomfortable weight.
The first bulletin the program produced, a detailed snapshot of co***ne in Australia, is among the more damning indictments of drug policy published in recent years. Not because NDARC intended it that way, but because the numbers tell a story the framing does not. Co***ne use among Australians aged 14 and over has grown from 1% in 2004 to 4.5% in 2022–23. Wastewater analysis recorded the highest co***ne consumption in Australian history in 2024–25. Deaths have risen fivefold since 2000. Hospitalisations have tripled since 2011. Co***ne is now the second most commonly used illicit drug in Australia. The market is, in the bulletin’s own words, “growing and more established.”
Thirty years of monitoring and every indicator moving in the wrong direction.
(Complete Review: https://nobrainer.org.au/index.php/resources/giving-a-damn/1666-thirty-years-of-watching-and-waiting-how-australias-drug-monitoring-system-lost-sight-of-prevention)

12/06/2026

This is what happens when pro-drug activists use 'Harm Reduction' to undermine best-practice, which is ‘don't uptake or

Australia had the most successful anti-smoking campaign the world had seen. We had reduced daily to***co consumption rates from an aggregate of about 52 per cent of ALL Australians 16 and over circa 1946-7 to around 13% three to four years ago. The data revealed then that about 100,000 people were quitting the habit annually but being replaced by around the same number from the emerging youth demographic.
What is interesting and important to note is that this emergence coincided with an ever increasing liberalisation of cannabis use and with the faux ‘medicinal’ prefix in front of w**d, meant that this substance was now viewed as a better ‘option’ to to***co.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the pro-drug activist, yet again, hijacking harm reduction by introducing and aggressively promoting VA**NG as the alternative. This didn’t stop ‘inhaling health destroying toxins’, it just shifted the delivery mechanism. Then, of course, we discovered (surprise, surprise) that this vehicle of delivery was even move harmful.
So, now we have a generation that has been sold a crock of… on several fronts, all encouraging – not discouraging – substance use. It creates and adds to dependency and then the demand that dependency drives. Now it is all landing back on the ‘cigarette’.
And what is the message in the public square from the bad actors that is getting traction? The War on To***co has failed and now we have an illicit market out of control! The same old mantra emerges again with a new spin… But let us be CRYSTAL CLEAR, it is not the QUIT campaign that failed – NO, it was and can still be a massive success – It’s the Addiction for Profit sociopaths that continue to find ways to create an inescapable customer base to line their pockets while throwing hapless thousands into an already collapsing ‘free’ health care system to try and manage the every increasing damage of these substances.
The short- and long-term harms of this cynical and nefarious game are almost inestimable!

Illegal ci******es now make up 80% of to***co consumed in Australia, with smokers exposed to unknown toxins and zero regulatory oversight.

11/06/2026

Thousands of Children Living with Undiagnosed Foetal Alcohol Damage as New Study Exposes Critical Gaps in Care

New Finnish research shows that FASD diagnosis in children is failing on a wide scale. Researchers found that children harmed by prenatal alcohol exposure routinely go unidentified and unsupported. The findings raise urgent questions about how health systems spot and help some of their most vulnerable young people.
FASD Diagnosis in Children: A Hidden Crisis
Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder covers all developmental conditions caused by alcohol drunk during pregnancy. Affected children often struggle with learning and memory. Many show ADHD-related traits, facial differences and growth problems. These difficulties shape how a child copes at school, at home and socially.
Even Short Exposure Puts the Embryo at Risk
The timing of exposure matters more than most people realise. Researchers expected that longer exposure would cause greater harm. The results proved otherwise.
Children exposed only before week eight showed just as many nervous system and facial abnormalities as those exposed for longer periods. Only growth impairments were absent in the early-exposure group.
Many women do not know they are pregnant in those first weeks. Alcohol consumed before a pregnancy is even confirmed can cause lasting neurological damage to the embryo.
Paediatric neurologist Mirjami Jolma put it plainly: “Since not everyone knows they are pregnant during the period when the embryo is most vulnerable, alcohol should be avoided as soon as pregnancy is being planned.”
(Research: https://www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au/wp_site/thousands-of-children-living-with-undiagnosed-fetal-alcohol-damage-as-new-study-exposes-critical-gaps-in-care-2/)

11/06/2026

World Resiliency Week/Day 2026 is Coming!
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/shane-varcoe-a5263828_activity-7470405131633795073-yFfb?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAXJ9t4BQm9kXt6atQpqozoLhJJFmj0Q4Zc

10/06/2026

Why Schools Hold the Key to Preventing Adolescent Substance Use Now!
(The Dalgarno Institute has decades long history in not only advocating but practicing in this space. The school social context is an intense micro-verse that until recent decades, was a place where proactive, resilience and agency building education was standard. However, other agendas have seen that best-practice model not only interrupted, but displaced with not merely benign inactivity, but best-practice contra influences. It is time to re-engage with best practice in this vital educational context)
Substance use in young people is not a new concern. But a major study published in 2026 has shed important light on where and why it happens. The findings come from over 30,000 adolescents aged 12 to 15 across the south of England. They point clearly in one direction: schools matter far more than we may have realised.
Understanding what drives adolescent substance use is essential. So is knowing what protects against it. Both are needed to build prevention approaches that reach young people before problems take hold.
What the Research Found About Adolescent Substance Use
The study appeared in the International Journal of Drug Policy. It looked at four types of substance use among secondary school pupils: va**ng, smoking, alcohol consumption, and illicit drug use including cannabis.
Researchers used statistical modelling that accounted for both school and neighbourhood contexts at the same time. The results were striking. Neighbourhood membership alone explained between 3% and 6% of the variation in substance use. But when school and neighbourhood were examined together, the neighbourhood effect disappeared entirely. The school context remained significant, accounting for between 6% and 8.5% of the variance.
In short: which school a young person attends matters more than where they live.
(Research: https://nobrainer.org.au/index.php/student-teacher/curriculum/1662-why-schools-hold-the-key-to-preventing-adolescent-substance-use)

09/06/2026

How Alcohol Addiction Permanently Changes the Brain, and Why Prevention Is Everything

Scientists at the University of Manchester and the University of Huddersfield published a new study in May 2026 showing just how deeply alcohol addiction and the brain are connected, and how some of those changes may never fully reverse, no matter how long someone stays sober.

Alcohol Addiction and the Brain: What the Study Found
Forty-six participants took part in the study. Twenty had a history of alcohol dependence and were abstinent, while 26 were healthy volunteers. All of them completed a reward-learning game while wearing EEG headsets that tracked their brain activity in real time.
On the surface, both groups performed equally well. But when researchers examined the brain signals behind those decisions, the picture told a very different story.

How Alcohol Dependence Suppresses a Key Brain Signal
The most striking finding centred on a brain response called feedback-related negativity, or FRN. This signal shows how the brain reacts to negative outcomes. Think of it as the neurological register of something going wrong.
In people with a history of alcohol dependence, this signal was noticeably blunted. It stayed suppressed after both positive and negative outcomes. It did not recover with time away from alcohol. Months or years of sobriety made no measurable difference.
The finding is significant. It suggests alcohol addiction and the brain’s ability to process reward and consequences change in ways that persist long into abstinence. Researchers believe an underlying difference in reward processing may even predate the addiction itself, making certain people more vulnerable from the start.

Some Changes Do Improve With Abstinence..

Research: https://www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au/wp_site/how-alcohol-addiction-permanently-changes-the-brain-and-why-prevention-is-everything/

09/06/2026

New research links alcohol and overeating via the hormone FGF21, driving cravings for ultra-processed savoury foods.

08/06/2026

Why So Many People Struggle with the Idea of Surrender in Addiction Recovery

On the surface, surrender sounds reasonable enough. In recovery circles, it typically means letting go of the illusion of control, particularly over substances. But language carries weight, and the word surrender arrives loaded with associations that sit uneasily alongside the idea of personal freedom.
Consider what surrender means in everyday life. A person surrenders to police. A soldier surrenders in defeat. When someone surrenders their passport, it is not a choice freely made. It is a condition imposed from outside. The word implies constraint, loss, and a diminished sense of self.
For people working through addiction recovery, this framing can feel actively counterproductive. Many already feel that substances have stripped them of power and autonomy. Telling someone that the path forward requires surrendering what little agency they have left can make recovery seem less like liberation and more like a continuation of the same powerlessness.
Research reflects this tension. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), only around 10% of people in the United States who need treatment for substance use disorders actually receive it. Stigma, alongside a sense of hopelessness, ranks among the most significant barriers. When the language of recovery itself feels disempowering, those barriers become even harder to cross.
A Different Word, A Different Path
There is an alternative worth considering: renunciation. Renouncing something is not passive… (more: https://wrdnews.org/overcoming-substance-use-why-renunciation-beats-surrender/ )

07/06/2026

Ho w Time in Nature Is Helping People Overcome Substance Use and Mental HealtHow Time in Nature Is Helping People Overcome Substance Use and Mental Health Struggles

A new peer-reviewed study suggests that spending structured time in nature could be one of the most underused tools in recovery support. Published in Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy (May 2026), the research found that greenspace programmes do far more than offer a pleasant change of scene. They actively build the resources people need to sustain long-term recovery from substance use and mental health challenges.
More: https://wrdnews.org/nature-based-recovery-how-greenspace-programmes-support-wellbeing/