NEWS: The Daily Mercury 31/3/08 - 'DRUGS FIRE UP VIOLENT NIGHTS'

DRUGS FIRE UP VIOLENT NIGHTS

March 31, 2008

IT could be any night out in Mackay. The music is pumping, the drinks are flowing and under the cover of darkness drugs such as ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine (ice) are being snorted, smoked and swallowed.

As the clock creeps towards 3am, revellers spill out onto the city centre streets. Spurred on by drug-fuelled aggression, young men and women are brawling. Violently king hitting, kicking and scratching each other and themselves in a paranoid state.

This is the part of his late night shift that Acting Tactical Crime Squad Senior Sergeant Fred Starr dreads the most. Over the past three years, he has seen Mackay's city centre night scene change from that of a country town to what he claims could rival Sydney's most notorious bloodshed hotspots.

At its ugliest, Snr Sgt Starr has seen: A young man suffering from drug-induced psychosis hearing or seeing things that don't exist repeatedly slam his head against a brick wall. An overdosed woman uncontrollably lash out at attending paramedics. A group fight where glass bottles were smashed into faces. Snr Sgt Starr blames the increase in vicious behaviour on an influx of interstate dealers who are targeting Mackay's cashed-up partygoers and a generation that has been brainwashed into thinking designer drugs are cool.

In November 2007, alone, between 7pm and 9am, Mackay police were called to 21 disturbances in the city heart, resulting in 24 arrests. Snr Sgt Starr has also seen the age of drug users fall from late 20s to barely over the legal age, 18. Disturbed by the mounting drug-fuelled brutality, Snr Sgt Starr is calling for police, local health officials, the education department and the media to work together. He would like to see a taskforce dedicated to reducing drug abuse on Mackay's streets.

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dailymercury.com

At the moment booze is being blamed for an increase in violence on Melbourne's streets. Having worked for over a decade in pubs and clubs I'm not convinced booze is the problem - sounds like the guys in Mackay realise it too.

Sounds like the problem is mainly ice. Who ever heard of anyone getting violent on some good X?

And how exactly do people become 'brainwashed' into thinking designer drugs are cool? And since when are X, cocaine and ice designer drugs? I thought that term was used to refer to chemicals specifically made to bypass the analogues laws.

Designer drugs are RC's in my mind.

Anyway, sounds like Ice. Christ I hate that drug.

Just sounds like ice =\ I guess speed would account for some. Never heard of X starting a fight that wouldnt of happened anyway, if anything, ive seen it prevent much conflict =)

I hate how they generalise the title so much, i mean, what about shrooms? or acid? or many of the RC's etc, i dont think anyone would get in a fight on those

The people who get violent on ice are the same people who get violent on booze, just drunk people are a whole lot less capable of inflicting serious damage.

i wonder howmany of them had been drinking as well.

mmm...always get pumped up when ever im on ice or speed...dont actually start anything..but i would say phetamines and booze are definatly to blame

rogan said:

just drunk people are a whole lot less capable of inflicting serious damage.

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This for me is the key point. Drunks take one wide swing and that's it before they fall over. They don't keep getting up and keep coming. I saw one bloke (and not a big one at that) go up against 7 bouncers after a show. These guys were landing solid hits, anyone of which should have floored him, but he kept coming, oblivious to it all.

Which is why I'm convinced booze isn't the cause of the massive increase in violence in Melbourne.

i've always found that the metal / alternative clubs i've been to have had a lot less people using drugs, and more people getting shitfaced drunk.
due to the insane sorta drink specials on offer ($1 spirits from 9-10... $2 from 10-11... $3 from 11-12 etc)
people there get shitfaced drunk, and there is always fights.
whether it be people trying to start shit on the dancefloor, or whether its emo's out the front having a massive cuddle fight rolling around on the ground out front.
every time i go to those places.. without fail. i see at least 1 or 2 instances of booze-fuelled violence.

i tend to spend most of my time going to dance / trance clubs. (which noone can deny has an insane amount of drug use)
and i can honestly say i've seen only 1 violent incident there, which was just the other weekend where i saw the toilets covered in blood and some guy had the crap beaten out of him by another guy.

generally i've found the people to be more polite, more sociable, and not one person has attempted to fight me at all.



now onto the subject of ice,
i know a lot of people get violent on it. but i fail to see how.
whenever i use it, i find myself very alert, i feel amazing, i feel fucking brilliant, and im overwhelmed with excitement like a little kid at christmas :D

comedown, i get argumentative and impatient, but this is days later?

then theres the muzzas who are constantly angry, constantly trying to cause shit that you see out at certain raves / outdoor house music events.
charging on roids and charlie?

i don't think it can really be blamed on the substances involved.. more so the individual user.

theres happy drunks, crying drunks, violent drunks, messy vomiting drunks, funnyc**t drunks... etc
same must apply to drugs aswell. we're all different, our brain chemistry differs from each person to the next... it only stands to reason that things are going to affect each of us somewhat differently.

It's the come-down, in my experience. When they're up, not an issue really, but some people, right after the peak, on the way down, something seems to "click", and they get raging violent. It's why I swore never to touch it.

Too high a dose can also do it. I snorted 2 or 3 points or so by accident when I first started using crystal (in my defense, I didn't do it intentionally, just had no idea how to measure the doseage or how much was in the bag, and honestly thought it was 'maybe just under a point'), and it kicked me into an insane angry panic attack. Couldn't dance, couldn't socialize, was convinced everyone around was 'out to get me,' extremely aggressive, to the point of nearly starting several fights, the slightest thing set me off. I made some extremely harsh, vitriolic comments towards some friends of mine that night as well, I was just so wound up and intense and ready to lash out at the slightest thing. I can easily see how people going hard on the meth could reach that point after a long night.

Thats not to say that you can just blame it on the drug 'omg fuck ice' etc. Alcohol/ecstasy/acid/juice/K whatever all have their own dark sides that can bring down a night out. But I think when it comes to aggression and fighting, meth and alcohol are the two most likely culprits.

Hehe, I don't see people starting fights on opiates very often.

How often do people go clubbing/bar hopping on opiates?

under the cover of darkness drugs such as ecstasy

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only harmful thing taking pills is gonna cause is maybe being hugged too hard and having a good night , definately is'nt asocciated with violence

Alcohol is the flammable one.

C_Tripper said:

It's the come-down, in my experience. When they're up, not an issue really, but some people, right after the peak, on the way down, something seems to "click", and they get raging violent. It's why I swore never to touch it.

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yeah mam i agree on that totally. iv seen friends that have sat there especially wen out, peek hard and dont say a word, then the first thing you see of them there swearing at someone hands up in the air.
i think some people expect to exes on whateva- plate and be siting pretty, but its just not what they expect and get aggro.

Its all that rap music IMO....:D

Seriously though, Melbourne has defintely become more ominous.

It would have to be ice nothing else does that stuff to you except for meth, it's such a bad drug I think. I possibly think their could be more up their because there is more places it could be made? Just a hypothesis cause their isn't much up their in my opinion.

*Members of bluelight are encouraged not to post random comments unless they have actually been to Mackcay*

And in that case Haha

I have family there and that is the funniest thing i have read all year

Really Mackay ?

Can anyone actually truthfully comment on the scene up there ?