Aus - Make ice 'uncool': WA Labor

[poledriver]

Aus - Make ice 'uncool': WA Labor

With the highest rate of amphetamine use in Australia, WA Labor is out to make meth "uncool". Source: AAP

ONLY losers take ice. That's the message West Australian Labor wants to send young people to tackle the drug's scourge on society.

WA has the highest rate of amphetamine use in Australia at 3.8 per cent compared to the national rate of 2.1 per cent.

Opposition leader Mark McGowan says the party will reach out next year to 100 stakeholders for advice on how to tackle the impact of crystal meth.

Mr McGowan said it wasn't just about law enforcement but also limiting the supply of base ingredients like pseudoephedrine and making it "uncool".

"Only the losers use it - that's the message we need to get out there," Mr McGowan said.

"We need to make sure people actually understand with this drug it's uncool, it's unhealthy, it's dangerous for your wellbeing, it breaks your family up."

Collie-Preston MLA Mick Murray said he's been overwhelmed with messages of support from parents and former addicts since his daughter Bree was arrested for possessing methamphetamine.

Mr Murray said many have said there aren't sufficient services available for those wanting help for their addiction.

He said his family tried to deal with the issue on their own for too long.

"Anyone who waits too long is too late," Mr Murray said.

"There's certainly is some hope there if we work together.

"Don't be scared, don't hide it, work with the medical profession, work with your friends and try to address it."

http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/make-ice-uncool-wa-labor/story-e6frfku9-1227163626869

 

[S.J.B.]

"Only the losers use it - that's the message we need to get out there," Mr McGowan said.

Yeah, because these people aren't stigmatized enough as it is.

 

[angeleyes]

It's glorified to high hell though, especially among the younger generation...


Still better action than anything Abbott has done about drugs

 

[Crankinit]

I'm sure this will happen in time, just as it did to heroin. Of course the real question is what are people going to be getting high on if they aren't getting high on meth? Making meth 'uncool' isn't going to suddenly alter the fundamental human desire to ingest psychoactive substances, it'll just reroute it to another chemical, better hope it isn't something worse than meth (the government and the police were crowing about "smashing the heroin epidemic" back during the first year or two of last decade when there was a drought, only for ice to pop up in it's place and storm through the drug scene, by 2004 they were literally yearning for the days when the worst they had to worry about was heroin addicts committing petty crime to feed their habit or being trucked to ER after ODing).

Though on the dubious bright side, the number of deaths caused by meth aren't close to overtaking the toll from traffic accidents. But a drug doesn't necessarily have to kill someone to destroy them.

 

[Nortika]

Making meth 'uncool' isn't going to suddenly alter the fundamental human desire to ingest psychoactive substances, it'll just reroute it to another chemical.

^This! When MDMA dried up a few years ago alot of my friends turned to meth instead and unfortunately have not come back from it. If they had been able to get their hands on MDMA at the time I don't think meth would of ever really been a consideration for them.