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Aus - Ben Cousins

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5000m

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Dec 21, 2011
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I feel sorry for Ben.. the Australian media are such attack dogs, most of them have no idea about how powerful an ice addiction can be - yet they run him down constantly.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-28/cousins-arrested-on-drugs-offences/3918532

Many uninformed social media comments about him too, e.g.

#Perth Trains Guy ‏ @perthtrainsguy Ben Cousins caught with 4.5grams of drugs in his rectum. Just another reason to #saynotocrack

</rant>
 
This isn't an isolated case, if your famous and wanna do drugs you better be ready for one hell of an uproar when you (inevtiably) get found out...

I'd feel bad for him, but eh, get famous and use drugs what d'you expect?
 
The ABC understands that 4.56 grams of the drug was found inside Cousins' body.
Click to expand...

Really? Inside his body? They x rayed him? I thought it was just a domestic flight...??
 
It was found in his rectum.

I don't see how 4.5g is proof he was trafficing. Id imagine with a habit like his he would blow through that in at least a week or two if he was lucky. If you wanted to use a mule to shift some gear surely a well known drug user and media magnet would be the last person you would get to run drugs.
 
oh ok.. Yeah that would be easy perso for him, but that's the laws isnt it, over 4.5g's and its not perso anymore.
 
Demetriou wishes Cousins well

Demetriou wishes Cousins well

AFL chief executive officer Andrew Demetriou said he hopes Ben Cousins can get his life back on track following the disgraced football star's arrest on a drug charge.

Cousins was arrested at Esperance Airport in Western Australia's south on Tuesday night and has been charged with possession with intent to sell or supply methylamphetamine.

It is alleged the 33-year-old was in possession of 4.56 grams of the drug.

The former football star flew back to Perth on Wednesday night after being released on bail and will face the Perth Magistrates Court on Monday.

A confessed methamphetamine addict, Cousins had been attending a drug rehabilitation clinic in Esperance - called Teen Challenge - for the past month.

Demetriou said the AFL Players' Association in particular continued to offer support to Cousins, along with his clubs and the wider football industry.

"We are all hopeful that he can keep his life on track, as this has been an extremely sad story for him, his family and those close to him," he said.

Cousins, who has had a very public battle with methamphetamine addiction over the years, was one of the most decorated West Coast Eagles players, winning the 2005 Brownlow Medal and playing in their 2006 premiership side, before the club sacked him in late 2007 because of his drug use.

He was suspended for 12 months by the AFL for bringing the game into disrepute before ending his playing career with the Richmond Tigers in 2010.​

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-29/demetriou-wishes-cousins-well/3921632
 
Busty St Clare said:
It was found in his rectum.

I don't see how 4.5g is proof he was trafficing. Id imagine with a habit like his he would blow through that in at least a week or two if he was lucky. If you wanted to use a mule to shift some gear surely a well known drug user and media magnet would be the last person you would get to run drugs.
Click to expand...

We know that but 4g is the proscribed amount above which a person found in possession can be charged with trafficking (at least in WA but I suspect Australia-wide.
Police will still have to prove intent but it allows a user to be charged.
I like Ben Cousins and thought his documentary excellent when I saw it originally as a clear anti-drug message. I was very straight then and the thought I would end up using - let alone addicted - to IVing ice was absurd. My only involvement with drugs or addicts was for a young friend who ultimately died of an overdose and I was the last person from his non-drug world who would talk to him.
Since then, I personally know three young people who tried ice because his documentary made it " look fun". I have it here, I must re-watch it to see if my changed perspective affects how I view it.
However, as a person who saw
 
However, as a person who saw a close friend struggle with addiction, I admired his courage in sharing his experience and, frankly, still am barracking for him to make it. And, I won't lie, my overwhelming reaction every time I see the media reports detailing his (inevitable) relapses, I wish they understood there is a vulnerable person on the end of this...,And regretting the bile heaped on him if he dies doesn't cut it. There is an addict here. And, even I, have to admit that I could never really understand how addiction can change the way you think and act until recently.
So, don't condemn too harshly people who don't understand...they can't. With my mate, he just appreciated that I accepted that one reason people play around with drugs was that they were fun. (seems ironic now) and that I didn't condemn him for relapsing.
But, before I got involved in Ryan's attempts to get clean, I would have. Fuck, I did.
It took personal involvement to understand it better. And now a progressing addiction myself to REALLY understand.

Should the media try not to sensationalise his circumstances...of course. But is it understandable they do? Of course, many people see Ben differently to the usual addict. He's rich, has used the media for his own purposes many times (including pressuring the AFL to allow him back), should have known better.
We'll, me too, but drugs are fun...And, by the time, you realise are losing control and becoming addicted, you are already addicted.
 
Like most people in this forum, I get that. Very personally. But Ben simply has to be realistic. If he wants to avoid the media scrutiny, he has to not play the game when it suits him (sell photos of his kid to magazines), etc. Be consistent and maybe people who do not personally comporehend addiction will not see him as hypocritical. Perhaps, even leave Australia - or at least the AFL states - to get treatment. The truth, I suspect is that he is still ( on balance) enjoying the drugs and, so, isn't really ready yet.
Having said all that, I love the guy and desperately want him to make it...,Selfishly, for my friend Ryan, and now for me. It is the same reason I have followed Nic Sheff and why I befriended one of Ryan's drug mates after he died.
I have no right to invest this in Ben...But I have. And it was a role he deliberately took on for himself.
No one will be happier than me if Ben makes it and finds the peace and strength some of those ex drug addicts who tried so hard to help Ryan; people I grew to admire more than anyone in my life.
So, Ben, good luck. I have selfishly appropriated part of your struggle but you must do it for the one person who counts in YOUR struggle.
YOU.

And, yes, some detailed analysis of the issues of addiction in the media would be good. But a serious debate on politics, on geopolitics, climate change, etc would be great too.
Except that doesn't sell papers or ads.
 
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poledriver said:
Really? Inside his body? They x rayed him? I thought it was just a domestic flight...??
Click to expand...

Oh, and he underwent a cavity search having been under surveillance for months. WA Police have been targeting Ben and his connections for years now; to be fair, they did give him preferential treatment by warning him off but he flouted the "favour" and rubbed their faces in it.
Understandable now, particularly given the number of young people influenced by Ben..
 
Nah it's AFL, or Aussie Rules Football (Aus Football League)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Football_League

Not soccer, not rugby, it's a game with a rugby style shaped ball that they try and kick thru the goals (4 posts, but the centre 2 u score more for), they are allowed to run with it and have to bounce it as they run, they can tackle and they have some ruck kinda things.. It's pretty weird if you haven't seen it before.

A sport unique to Aus I think.

18 players on each team on field which includes 6 forwards, 6 midfielders (which includes the ruckmen) and 6 backmen. a Max of 4 interchange players on the bench in which can com on and off as often as they want to. (no limit like in soccer)
 
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