Editor's note

If you grew up in the 80s and 90s, chances are you somehow got your hands on a copy of Dolly magazine and flipped straight to the Dolly Doctor section. Readers from across the country would send in questions they were too embarrassed or afraid to ask their parents. Dolly Doctor’s responses were authentic, sensitive and, when it comes to anatomy, very detailed.

When the print edition of Dolly got the axe in 2016, Dolly Doctor went too, leaving a massive gap. Now we’ve stepped into the breach with Just So You Know, a series where teens can send in a question about sex, drugs, relationships and health – anonymously, if they like – and we’ll get an expert to answer it.

First up, our drug expert Nicole Lee tackles the issue of how to respond to a friend who is using ice and smoking pot. It doesn’t usually help to plead, persuade, or threaten, she explains. Give them time to talk and don’t cut them off.

We’ll also be covering relationships, sex, mental health and all the things that keep young people up at night. We’ve even got one in train by Dolly Doctor herself, Associate Professor Melissa Kang.

And if you’re a teenager and have a question you’d like answered by an expert, you can email us, submit your question anonymously through Incogneato or DM us on Instagram.

Fron Jackson-Webb

Deputy Editor/Senior Health + Medicine Editor

Top story

It can be tricky to know what to do when someone you care about starts taking drugs. www.shutterstock.com

‘My friend is using ice and smoking pot. What do I do?’: advice from an expert

Nicole Lee, Curtin University

It can be really tricky to know what to do when someone you care about starts using drugs. Raising the issue and listening without judgement is a good place to start.

Tree trunks, which were submersed when the dam was full, stand a the critically low dam in South Africa in 2018. EPA/NIC BOTHMA

Slowing climate change could reverse drying in the subtropics

Kale Sniderman, University of Melbourne; Andrew King, University of Melbourne; Jon Woodhead; Josephine Brown, Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Australia's subtropical regions are drying, but if we can slow the global temperature rise then rainfall should increase again.

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