|
Press Releases To view and print the documents,
you will need a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
It is with deep regret that we announce the passing on of one of our beloved senior advisors, Doctor Steve worked with Stargate and AngelCare teams as a Clinical Director and Senior Harm Reduction consultant and passed away peacefully on 28th March 2006 following complications from a head injury sustained in a car crash some years earlier.
The world is all the better for those rare, selfless people with both the ability and the willingness to connect with and help other people who are in despair or who have hit rock bottom. These counsellors, clinicians and treatment specialists dedicate their lives to saving and restoring the lives of others. They are true heroes of our communities and it is with terrible sadness that we mark the passing of one of the finest. Dr Steve Miller was a Senior Lecturer at Auckland Institute of Technology and a Head of Section at Massey University where he developed the mental health component of the first nursing degree syllabus at a New Zealand technical institute. Steve developed many training manuals for nursing and mental health which are still in use today. Steve’s calm and compassionate nature allowed him to connect with people from all walks of life and put them at ease. Steve’s unique ability to foster trust in others was critical to his counselling success, particularly in the fields of addiction and mental health. I first met Steve after researching nutritional supplements to restore the body’s homeostasis after drug usage and was surprised to learn that Steve had carried out work in this area and was now living in New Zealand, working as a Psychologist. He took a personal interest in our vision to deliver drug treatment, first aid and counselling services into nightclubs and dance parties, and in developing safer alternatives as part of a treatment program. It brought me great joy to see Steve, an American born Kiwi, attending some of the dance music festivals here - always holding a crowd, regaling today's young people with tales of the Woodstock Festival – the ultimate dance party of his own youth - which helped him establish an instant rapport. Steve has a strong personal mana, or presence. Everybody listened when he spoke, and he was able to exert considerable influence on today's youth. Steve was particularly interested in what Stargate was trying to do in the area of minimising drug-related harm and breaking addictions, and over time his teachings came to have a profound influence on the Stargate philosophy. Steve played a critical role in working with the Stargate team in the development of safer alternatives and treatment protocols for drug users and addicts. He became a driving force behind the AngelCare Charitable Trust which, through its dance-party presence, has saved lives and made a difference to many young New Zealanders. At all times Steve’s approach was driven by empathy, compassion and an absolute refusal to pass judgement. Steve pioneered significant research into treating methamphetamine users through the use of nutritional biochemistry to restore their homeostasis while in Hawaii. Between 1985 and 1990, the time of a crystal methamphetamine, crack and cocaine epidemic in Hawaii, Steve ran a crisis response team, dealing with an avalanche of drug-related mental heath crises – threatened suicides, overdoses, psychoses. This experience abroad would stand him in good stead for the arrival of our own crystal methamphetamine problem. In New Zealand he was at the front line of the ‘P epidemic’. In his own time he frequently staffed Stargate’s ‘Stop P’ 0800 counselling helpline for people trying to break methamphetamine addictions. It was not uncommon for Steve, on a completely voluntary basis, to take calls through this service and talk to various people with various addictions for up to 24 hours. It was a service he actively promoted to doctors and health professionals across the country. During his research in Hawaii, Steve found that there were simple ways to reduce some of the suffering for methamphetamine users through nutritional supplementation. We're now carrying on that work. Steve was particularly unusual in that his rare ability to connect meaningfully with all kinds people was supported by his comprehensive professional qualifications. Steve graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from New York University and a Master of Science in Nursing and PhD in Psychology from Kennedy Western University in California. Steve got full funding for his PhD work as a member of a State-wide mobile mental health crisis response team. Steve first arrived in New Zealand in 1990 and immediately went about earning the respect of his peers and colleagues. He was elected Vice-President and Counsellor of the New Zealand Branch of the Australia and New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses from 1995 to 1997 and appointed Fellow of the Australia and New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses in 1996. Steve was appointed as the first New Zealand member to the editorial staff of the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Mental Health Nursing between 1996 and 2000 and was listed in the International Directory of Distinguished Leadership (3rd Ed) for Contributions in Program Development for Obsessive Compulsive Disorders and Addictions. Steve was awarded two service medals by the State of Hawaii in 1997 and 1998; three Service Awards by the University of Hawaii (1987,1988 and 1989) for Service to the people of Hawaii. Steve was also presented with an Adult Literacy Award for initiating an Adult Literacy Programme at Hawaii State Hospital in 1989. Over the last six or so years Steve was dedicating increasing amounts of his professional energy to working with at-risk youths and adolescents – in counselling, habilitation, advocacy and trying to keep young people out of the justice system. At all times over his esteemed professional career he was committed to one simple goal – helping other people. We were so fortunate to have Steve’s
support, enthusiasm and professional expertise behind what Stargate
and the AngelCare Trust are trying to achieve. It breaks our hearts
to lose our dear friend and mentor, but Steve’s philosophy,
and his compassion, will continue to underpin all that we do.
6 February 2006 Stargate International today reaffirmed its total commitment to minimizing all drug related harm. Stargate Founder and Director, Matt Bowden, said he was taking the opportunity to clarify this commitment following public suggestions from a Member of Parliament that his motivation was financial rather than principled. “Stargate International was established by me as a vehicle to minimize all drug related harm following the drug-related deaths of members of my own family. Mr Bowden said while Stargate had pioneered legal party pills as an alternative to speed and ecstasy, Stargate was currently working on a range of cutting edge technologies to help beat addictions to a range of illegal drugs including heroin, cocaine and alcohol. He said Stargate’s success in working in partnership with Government and the party pill industry in developing the Misuse of Drugs Act Amendment Bill highlighted Stargate’s commitment to public health. “The regulatory regime around BZP, which was created by Government with the strong support of the industry, has shown that New Zealand can lead the world in developing and introducing common-sense harm minimization solutions. “This approach is being noted around the world. It will lead to further study of harm minimisation and the development of more solutions which will help save more lives,” he said. “There is a continuum of drug users out there from dabblers to hedonists to those who’ve had enough and want to get off the boat,” said Mr Bowden. “Stargate’s vision is the same as it has always been - to discourage dabbling, to develop safer, legal alternatives for those who are not going to stop, and to develop and bring to market rescue and recovery agents to restore the health of those who’ve gone too far.” Stargate’s STOP P product is one such harm reducing solution. STOP P has positive reports from treatment experts who were encouraged with the results it was achieving. “It was encouraging to see the number of people who found their personality and moods starting to stabilise on STOP P after the horror of methamphetamine use. This treatment product, combined with the thousands of people who quit P when party pills hit the market show the value of new harm minimization technology,” said Mr Bowden. “STOP P has shown us that the future for Stargate lies in further refining our technology to the point where we can start formal clinical trials. I think New Zealand will be the international leader in some exciting new developments over the coming months and years.” Mr Bowden said he found the suggestion from profile-seeking politicians that he was motivated by profit, to be offensive. “The Stargate business model is not profit driven, but it is economically sustainable. We take market share away from illegal drugs and invest heavily in research at the cutting edge of natural pharmacology. “I’m not driven by money, I’m committed to success. For me, success means saving lives,” he said. “International Experts advised the UN some
time ago that terrorism and organized crime is funded by prohibition
policies which deal with drug issues as criminal, rather than
health issues. Something is wrong with a country that closes down
rehabilitation centres and builds more prisons. The ‘tough
on drugs’ rhetoric doesn’t work for your average addict
or user but organized criminals make a killing. Policy makers
need to acknowledge this truth.” “The current Minister for Drug Policy, Hon Jim Anderton, has committed to basing policy on this independent expert advice. What this means is that policy is based on what will best work, rather than if it is politically saleable. “This approach is leading the rest of the world in responsible, evidence-based drug policy. This approach will continue to save lives, even if it does not suit all political agendas.”
25 October 2005 Mr Bowden said it was time for an evidence-based approach to work-place drug testing which was based on actual risk, rather than stereotypes. “Many kiwis like to work hard and party hard. Sometimes we use alcohol, sometimes we use other substances. Practically every society of humans has done this since the beginning of time. “The issue for employers must be on whether or not the employee is impaired from doing their job while they are on duty. If there is no evidence of impairment then is it really an employer’s business what the employees do in their spare time?” Mr Bowden said with traces of cannabis existing
in the body for up to three months there is often an enormous
gap between the presence of drugs and evidence of impairment.
He said employers need to think very carefully about where drug
testing could take them. Mr Bowden said recreational substance use today was much like homosexuality 20 years ago in terms of stigma. “When these numbers of people are involved, even if we don’t approve of the morality, we’re compromising basic tenets of equality by discriminating against users of one particular substance over another – in many cases, for no good reason,” he said. “Employers should concentrate on testing the ability of an employee to carry out their job safely rather than focusing on the remains of the weekend in their bloodstreams.
5 October 2005 Matt Bowden of Stargate International, an organisation dedicated to helping reduce the harm caused by the use of both legal and illegal drugs, said the goal of any approach to drug issues must be keeping people alive, rather than compliant. “I support the sentiment in recent comments by the Wellington Coroner, but not the message. Fear-based drug education has been shown to spark curiosity in inquiring minds and has actually been shown to increase demand. “The facts show that those countries which are ‘toughest’ on drugs end up doing the most harm to their people,” he said. The principle of harm minimization is that where people will use drugs, every effort should be made either to provide safer alternatives or to ensure that harms associated with drug use are reduced as far as possible. Mr Bowden said harm minimisation is the international
standard promoted by the World Health Organisation in most effectively
approaching and dealing with drug use. “I would really like
to see drug use destigmatised and an environment created where
we can openly and honestly discuss drug use, like any other activity.
Recent ‘celebrity drug busts’ have helped to show
that all sectors of society use drugs, yet nobody is able to talk
about it for fear of arrest. Mr Bowden said since the beginning of human history, people have used recreational substances in a social setting, and probably always would. “It is naïve to think we are going to stop people from using drugs. The United States’ ‘War on Drugs’ is the best possible evidence of this.” Mr Bowden said recent moves by the Government to
keep BZP-based party pills on the market, but place controls around
them, was an excellent example of harm minimization in practice. Mr Bowden said young people in particular were very cynical about being told not to use one substance or another when cigarettes and alcohol – arguably the two most dangerous drugs on the planet – were actively promoted and sold around the clock. He said that for as long as there is a ‘war on drugs’ mentality, adolescent substance use will remain a primary method of rebellion and that substance use tended to increase in harsher, more punitive environments. “The latest research from Australia, for example, shows that Government is one of the least trusted sources of information about drugs, as a result of decades of fear -based drug education. “Thankfully the New Zealand Government is finally taking an evidence-based approach to this issue and is allowing an expert panel to make decisions on what will actually work.”
|
Stargate International
Tel NZ 0800 STARGATE • Int +64(0)9 478 9477 • Fax +64(0)9 478 9472
www.angelcare.org.nz • www.stanz.org.nz • www.designerpills.com