poledriver
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
- Messages
- 11,543
Resume the war on drugs. Before more people die
Ice now accounts for half of all cases presenting to the clinic — up 53 per cent on last year and triple what it was just a decade ago. Alcohol is responsible for 20 per cent of admissions. Heroin, which accounted for 43 per cent of admissions in 2003, and cannabis are down to 11 per cent each and cocaine is only 1 per cent.
Nearly a third of Odyssey House’s clients are under 30, and 45 per cent are between 30 and 40. According to the report, the average age people begin taking drugs is now 12 to 13 years — dramatically down from 16 to 17 years in 2003.
Odyssey House chief executive Julie Babineau highlighted the link between drug use and mental illness.
“This year 44 per cent of clients had a coexisting mental illness,” Ms Babineau said. “Ice, in particular, can have significant impacts on mental health, including psychosis, depression and anxiety, or it can mask or exacerbate pre-existing problems.”
Ms Babineau suggested the worrying rise in ice-related cases could be because the drug is relatively cheap.
Drug use has steadily grown across Australia in the past 10 years. In 2007, 13.4 per cent of people 14 years or older had used an illicit drug in the past year, according to a comprehensive government report.
Three years later that had jumped to 14.7 per cent and rose to 15 per cent in 2013. By contrast, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported the world average was only 5 per cent.
If we don’t watch it, we will have the equivalent to the 1990s heroin epidemic on our hands.
No doubt the demonisation and rising cost of alcohol plays a part. If, as a young person, you go out for the night with $30 you’ll be lucky to buy three drinks. You could spend the same amount on amphetamine and keep going all night, but it’s the start of the slippery slope to addiction.
It’s time to give up on the soft approach and tackle this epidemic.
A program announced earlier this year will allow sewage at wastewater plants to be monitored for traces of drugs. It was hoped the resulting data would show particular problem areas to focus on. In addition, the South Australian government this week committed to expanding its trial of the program to regional areas, where ice abuse is eating away at the youth.
We have to come down hard on drug dealers and, to a certain extent, users and reverse the levels of acceptance young people feel about drugs.
Drug use should not be part of the “party culture” — or any other culture. It’s what so tragically killed Georgina Bartter at a Sydney music festival in 2014.
It’s time to return to a “tough on drugs” attitude. Resume the war on drugs. If we don’t start fighting this evil again, lives will be lost.
With comments after the article -
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/re...e/news-story/f13274e00de2df4da1c37b1a8731f59f
Ice now accounts for half of all cases presenting to the clinic — up 53 per cent on last year and triple what it was just a decade ago. Alcohol is responsible for 20 per cent of admissions. Heroin, which accounted for 43 per cent of admissions in 2003, and cannabis are down to 11 per cent each and cocaine is only 1 per cent.
Nearly a third of Odyssey House’s clients are under 30, and 45 per cent are between 30 and 40. According to the report, the average age people begin taking drugs is now 12 to 13 years — dramatically down from 16 to 17 years in 2003.
Odyssey House chief executive Julie Babineau highlighted the link between drug use and mental illness.
“This year 44 per cent of clients had a coexisting mental illness,” Ms Babineau said. “Ice, in particular, can have significant impacts on mental health, including psychosis, depression and anxiety, or it can mask or exacerbate pre-existing problems.”
Ms Babineau suggested the worrying rise in ice-related cases could be because the drug is relatively cheap.
Drug use has steadily grown across Australia in the past 10 years. In 2007, 13.4 per cent of people 14 years or older had used an illicit drug in the past year, according to a comprehensive government report.
Three years later that had jumped to 14.7 per cent and rose to 15 per cent in 2013. By contrast, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported the world average was only 5 per cent.
If we don’t watch it, we will have the equivalent to the 1990s heroin epidemic on our hands.
No doubt the demonisation and rising cost of alcohol plays a part. If, as a young person, you go out for the night with $30 you’ll be lucky to buy three drinks. You could spend the same amount on amphetamine and keep going all night, but it’s the start of the slippery slope to addiction.
It’s time to give up on the soft approach and tackle this epidemic.
A program announced earlier this year will allow sewage at wastewater plants to be monitored for traces of drugs. It was hoped the resulting data would show particular problem areas to focus on. In addition, the South Australian government this week committed to expanding its trial of the program to regional areas, where ice abuse is eating away at the youth.
We have to come down hard on drug dealers and, to a certain extent, users and reverse the levels of acceptance young people feel about drugs.
Drug use should not be part of the “party culture” — or any other culture. It’s what so tragically killed Georgina Bartter at a Sydney music festival in 2014.
It’s time to return to a “tough on drugs” attitude. Resume the war on drugs. If we don’t start fighting this evil again, lives will be lost.
With comments after the article -
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/re...e/news-story/f13274e00de2df4da1c37b1a8731f59f
