1985 and all that: the establishment of Australia's Drug Strategy

A national drug summit in the mid-1980s played a pivotal role in the establishment of Australia's National Drug Strategy. It transformed the delivery of drug policies in Australia and gave us the instruments to understand our drug problem, namely national Centres of Excellence, including the National Drug Research Institute. This paper examines how a 'bundle of compromises' came together in the political context of the mid-1980s to give rise to, for the first time, a cooperative national campaign that continues to drive Australia's drug strategy today.