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Organisers of Melbourne gay dance party Poof Doof say they will impose a lifetime ban on clubbers found using ice.
It's the first time a city club has made a public stance on crystal methamphetamine, following moves at mainstream venues almost two years ago to place life bans on punters caught partying on the drug GHB.
"There is a sadness and exhaustion attached to these drugs - everyone seems to know someone who has been directly affected," Poof Doof organiser Anthony Hocking said.
Mr Hocking said ice-affected party-goers at the weekly dance party, hosted by Chasers nightclub in Chapel Street, will be ejected and banned using Scantek. The technology scans the licences of punters onto a system accessed by more than 100 venues Australia-wide.
Club staff can opt to ban a patron for a month, three months, six months or for life and provide explanations that can be seen by all the venues that use the system.
"An individual who has been given a lifetime ban at one venue, will be flagged by all venues," he said.
Melbourne clubs have been using the technology since 2006 and there are now 33 Victorian venues on Scantek. There are almost 4500 active bans across the country and nearly 1500 in Victoria with men accounting for 84 per cent of bans. Drug use or possession accounts for about 20 per cent of prohibitions, while threatening or violent behaviour is responsible for 43 per cent.
Venues have used the system for years, but it is rare for Melbourne club owners, wary of being cast as having a drug problem, to go public and threaten drug users with lifetime bans. The last time was more than a year ago.
Tramp nightclub owner Matt Giles said the GHB "epidemic" hit the club scene hard.
"It was becoming four or five ambulances per club per night. GHB was wrecking the scene. So we put it out on Facebook 14-15 months ago that anyone using GHB in our industry, you get a life ban and it's a life ban. I've personally banned 100 people," he said.
He said use of GHB has almost "vanished" but now, perhaps in its place, is ice. Mr Giles said ice was not a problem in his club, but it was difficult to detect given it causes users to stay awake and party rather than almost drop dead like they did on GHB.
It's also hard to pick-up because of the way ice is consumed. A user isn't exactly going to light an ice pipe in a club (plumes of smoke are a bit of a give-away) and Mr Giles said people would often sneak-out to carparks near clubs to inhale it. GHB, on the other hand, is a clear liquid that can be slipped into drinks.
Even if club owners say it is not a problem in their venues, its prevalence in the community has become well-publicised with its link to violent crime and social and health destruction. It is only in the last month that the gay community started to talk about it in the mainstream media.
The parliamentary inquiry into ice, tabled at the start of the month, recommended campaigns to target its use, while Fairfax Media revealed it had become so widely used by gay men it was being sold on dating app Grindr.
It was off the back of this that Poof Doof organisers, with Chasers, went public with the lifetime ban threat.
"With some evidence that increases in unsafe sex and rises in HIV infections are being linked to ice use, there's not doubt this will benefit the community," president of gay and lesbian radio station Joy 94.9 Jed Gilbert said.
"I hope their leadership encourages other venues, both gay and mainstream, to follow suit."
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/lifetime-poof-doof-bans-for-clubbers-on-ice-20140923-10kx62.html
It's the first time a city club has made a public stance on crystal methamphetamine, following moves at mainstream venues almost two years ago to place life bans on punters caught partying on the drug GHB.
"There is a sadness and exhaustion attached to these drugs - everyone seems to know someone who has been directly affected," Poof Doof organiser Anthony Hocking said.
Mr Hocking said ice-affected party-goers at the weekly dance party, hosted by Chasers nightclub in Chapel Street, will be ejected and banned using Scantek. The technology scans the licences of punters onto a system accessed by more than 100 venues Australia-wide.
Club staff can opt to ban a patron for a month, three months, six months or for life and provide explanations that can be seen by all the venues that use the system.
"An individual who has been given a lifetime ban at one venue, will be flagged by all venues," he said.
Melbourne clubs have been using the technology since 2006 and there are now 33 Victorian venues on Scantek. There are almost 4500 active bans across the country and nearly 1500 in Victoria with men accounting for 84 per cent of bans. Drug use or possession accounts for about 20 per cent of prohibitions, while threatening or violent behaviour is responsible for 43 per cent.
Venues have used the system for years, but it is rare for Melbourne club owners, wary of being cast as having a drug problem, to go public and threaten drug users with lifetime bans. The last time was more than a year ago.
Tramp nightclub owner Matt Giles said the GHB "epidemic" hit the club scene hard.
"It was becoming four or five ambulances per club per night. GHB was wrecking the scene. So we put it out on Facebook 14-15 months ago that anyone using GHB in our industry, you get a life ban and it's a life ban. I've personally banned 100 people," he said.
He said use of GHB has almost "vanished" but now, perhaps in its place, is ice. Mr Giles said ice was not a problem in his club, but it was difficult to detect given it causes users to stay awake and party rather than almost drop dead like they did on GHB.
It's also hard to pick-up because of the way ice is consumed. A user isn't exactly going to light an ice pipe in a club (plumes of smoke are a bit of a give-away) and Mr Giles said people would often sneak-out to carparks near clubs to inhale it. GHB, on the other hand, is a clear liquid that can be slipped into drinks.
Even if club owners say it is not a problem in their venues, its prevalence in the community has become well-publicised with its link to violent crime and social and health destruction. It is only in the last month that the gay community started to talk about it in the mainstream media.
The parliamentary inquiry into ice, tabled at the start of the month, recommended campaigns to target its use, while Fairfax Media revealed it had become so widely used by gay men it was being sold on dating app Grindr.
It was off the back of this that Poof Doof organisers, with Chasers, went public with the lifetime ban threat.
"With some evidence that increases in unsafe sex and rises in HIV infections are being linked to ice use, there's not doubt this will benefit the community," president of gay and lesbian radio station Joy 94.9 Jed Gilbert said.
"I hope their leadership encourages other venues, both gay and mainstream, to follow suit."
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/lifetime-poof-doof-bans-for-clubbers-on-ice-20140923-10kx62.html
