poledriver
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
- Messages
- 11,543
Meet the middle-class face of methamphetamine
MEET Jessica*. She’s 25, has a degree from a good university and holds down a full-time job writing for a student training website.
And she’s an ice addict.
Jessica is one of a growing number of middle-class methamphetamine users, who look perfectly normal to the outside world, but are deep in the grip of addiction.
Unlike the ravaged faces normally shown in the media, covered in sores from frenzied scratching, people like Jessica have their own homes and cars, dress well and maintain careers.
But two weeks ago, this mother-of-one from southeast Melbourne tried to drive off a cliff.
The Australian Crime Commission warned in April that the nation’s ice problem was reaching pandemic proportions.
Meth use is thought to have increased by 10 per cent in the past two years, and at least seven per cent of Australians over the age of 14 have tried the drug.
The problem is more pronounced in certain areas. The Medical Journal of Australia said last year that hospitalisations for the drug in Melbourne had leapt by 318 per cent in 12 months.
The mundanity of Jessica’s introduction to meth is what makes it even more terrifying.
She wasn’t a drug taker. She had smoked marijuana once, when she was 16.
When a female colleague invited her to “have a puff”, it didn’t seem like a big deal.
“We were just chilling at her place, she’s a professional woman as well,” Jessica tells news.com.au. “I wanted to try it.”
She admits she “had that fear” but “it was only going to be that one night.”
The pair stayed up chatting into the early hours, and Jessica said it didn’t feel like a crazy experience.
“It was just sociable,” she says. “There were no restrictions. It brings out your honesty.”
The next day, she didn’t even have a comedown.
Reassured, she continued to catch up with her colleague occasionally, for a smoke and a chat.
One day, her friend said she didn’t have time to meet, but Jessica could come and pick up a bag. Soon, the pair weren’t smoking together at all.
“She became my drug dealer,” says Jessica. “I don’t talk to her any more. I don’t understand how you can light someone else’s pipe. I would never do that to anyone.”
But it was too late for the 25-year-old. Soon she was out of control. “It’s a sneaky drug,” she says.
Five months ago, her primary school-age son went to live with her parents. “I just dropped him off and never came back.”
Cont -
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/he...-methamphetamine/story-fneuzlbd-1227136922443
MEET Jessica*. She’s 25, has a degree from a good university and holds down a full-time job writing for a student training website.
And she’s an ice addict.
Jessica is one of a growing number of middle-class methamphetamine users, who look perfectly normal to the outside world, but are deep in the grip of addiction.
Unlike the ravaged faces normally shown in the media, covered in sores from frenzied scratching, people like Jessica have their own homes and cars, dress well and maintain careers.
But two weeks ago, this mother-of-one from southeast Melbourne tried to drive off a cliff.
The Australian Crime Commission warned in April that the nation’s ice problem was reaching pandemic proportions.
Meth use is thought to have increased by 10 per cent in the past two years, and at least seven per cent of Australians over the age of 14 have tried the drug.
The problem is more pronounced in certain areas. The Medical Journal of Australia said last year that hospitalisations for the drug in Melbourne had leapt by 318 per cent in 12 months.
The mundanity of Jessica’s introduction to meth is what makes it even more terrifying.
She wasn’t a drug taker. She had smoked marijuana once, when she was 16.
When a female colleague invited her to “have a puff”, it didn’t seem like a big deal.
“We were just chilling at her place, she’s a professional woman as well,” Jessica tells news.com.au. “I wanted to try it.”
She admits she “had that fear” but “it was only going to be that one night.”
The pair stayed up chatting into the early hours, and Jessica said it didn’t feel like a crazy experience.
“It was just sociable,” she says. “There were no restrictions. It brings out your honesty.”
The next day, she didn’t even have a comedown.
Reassured, she continued to catch up with her colleague occasionally, for a smoke and a chat.
One day, her friend said she didn’t have time to meet, but Jessica could come and pick up a bag. Soon, the pair weren’t smoking together at all.
“She became my drug dealer,” says Jessica. “I don’t talk to her any more. I don’t understand how you can light someone else’s pipe. I would never do that to anyone.”
But it was too late for the 25-year-old. Soon she was out of control. “It’s a sneaky drug,” she says.
Five months ago, her primary school-age son went to live with her parents. “I just dropped him off and never came back.”
Cont -
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/he...-methamphetamine/story-fneuzlbd-1227136922443