http://www.smh.com.au/news/Opinion/...-the-real-story/2005/03/08/1110160822611.html
Bumper crop of drug overdose scares misses the real story
March 9, 2005
With the help of the internet, users are learning about what they are taking, with beneficial results, writes Dan Stapleton.
If media reports this week are to be believed, the war on drugs is far from won. Our children are doomed to a lifetime of schizophrenia because of all the marijuana they're smoking in primary school. Heroin use is down, only to be replaced by other life-threatening drugs. And the manufacture and consumption of amphetamines is out of control.
Scary stuff. "The Federal Government should be 'seriously concerned' about the abuse of party drugs, including the potentially lethal GHB, as heroin dries up and new drugs gain popularity," a report in the Herald told us, citing the latest report by the International Narcotics Control Board.
Others talked of "clandestine drug laboratories" manufacturing huge amounts of amphetamines from the pseudoephedrine present in over-the-counter cold and flu tablets and there were the reports of the mental effects of cannabis.
Not to be outdone, the ABC delivered a sensationalist, marijuana-themed Four Corners, introducing us to a group of doped-up kids, some of whom had started smoking as young as 12. The ABC dubbed the program a "wake-up call", hammering the "youth at risk" line home with the alarmist proclamation that, "Many young people begin smoking cannabis before they have even hit their teens - and experts are warning that the younger the smoker, the greater the risk of mental illness."
It would be easy to draw the conclusion that Australia is in the midst of a drug-use crisis, yet nothing could be further from the truth.
At a time when regression to old-fashioned morals is de rigueur, it is essential to keep the debate balanced.
What this coverage didn't tell you is that research and data shows a consistent decline in the number of drug-related deaths since the early 1990s when studies of this kind began. Drug overdoses and/or fatalities in Australia are at their lowest levels. Cigarettes and alcohol still cause 99 per cent of drug-related deaths. Nor are people informed, or aware, that today's drug users are, on average, more educated and responsible than their parents.
On balance, we're doing well controlling illicit drug usage. Fewer overdoses can only be good news. But who should be thanked? Drug control has never been high on the Federal Government's agenda, so it is misguided to attribute the progress of the past decade to it. Sure, it is busting its share of drug smugglers, thanks to tightened border control but, as the control board's report says, most of the drugs consumed here are made here.
The Government's other initiatives have been duds - print and TV advertising campaigns have been met with a mixture of amusement and disdain by a drug-using populace cynical of cliched scare tactics.
Yes, the drug-using public is safer and better educated than ever, and not because of the Government. Rather, it's a result of the rising trend of harm-minimisation as an alternative to zero tolerance.
This shift has been precipitated, in part, by the internet. Online forums such as bluelight.ru and pillreports.com allow anyone on the net to find out the exact contents of the pill they've just bought, or learn about the side effects of particular drugs. Tens of thousands access these sites daily.
Elsewhere, support groups for those trying to kick an illicit habit or recover from a bad experience are plentiful, non-judgemental and, most importantly, free.
These online communities and their offline counterparts operate on the assumption that drugs - from alcohol to opiates - will always be used and that education is the only way to reduce their harmful consequences.
It's a no-brainer: people want to know what they're putting into their bodies, and they don't want to be condemned. It's encouraging to note that, to date, almost all the harm minimisation and drug education has been implemented at the grassroots level: just imagine how many more lives could be saved if the Government got on board the harm minimisation train, too.
Of course, the Government would never condone harm minimisation. And perhaps unsurprisingly, when I asked the federal Health Minister, Tony Abbott, about online harm reduction communities late last year, he told me he'd never heard of them. "But any site encouraging drug use is encouraging its readers to dice with death," he told me. "It's incredibly irresponsible of them."
With a Government unwilling to engage in debate, the responsibility then falls to the media. Which, in light of this week's bumper crop of anti-drug stories, can be a depressing prospect.
By all means, keep us informed on new research, and don't stop showing us the human face of drug-use gone awry. But try to keep the hyperbole to a minimum. Things are getting better. And it's because those tempted to use drugs are able to make truly informed decisions.
Dan Stapleton is a freelance writer.
Bumper crop of drug overdose scares misses the real story
March 9, 2005
With the help of the internet, users are learning about what they are taking, with beneficial results, writes Dan Stapleton.
If media reports this week are to be believed, the war on drugs is far from won. Our children are doomed to a lifetime of schizophrenia because of all the marijuana they're smoking in primary school. Heroin use is down, only to be replaced by other life-threatening drugs. And the manufacture and consumption of amphetamines is out of control.
Scary stuff. "The Federal Government should be 'seriously concerned' about the abuse of party drugs, including the potentially lethal GHB, as heroin dries up and new drugs gain popularity," a report in the Herald told us, citing the latest report by the International Narcotics Control Board.
Others talked of "clandestine drug laboratories" manufacturing huge amounts of amphetamines from the pseudoephedrine present in over-the-counter cold and flu tablets and there were the reports of the mental effects of cannabis.
Not to be outdone, the ABC delivered a sensationalist, marijuana-themed Four Corners, introducing us to a group of doped-up kids, some of whom had started smoking as young as 12. The ABC dubbed the program a "wake-up call", hammering the "youth at risk" line home with the alarmist proclamation that, "Many young people begin smoking cannabis before they have even hit their teens - and experts are warning that the younger the smoker, the greater the risk of mental illness."
It would be easy to draw the conclusion that Australia is in the midst of a drug-use crisis, yet nothing could be further from the truth.
At a time when regression to old-fashioned morals is de rigueur, it is essential to keep the debate balanced.
What this coverage didn't tell you is that research and data shows a consistent decline in the number of drug-related deaths since the early 1990s when studies of this kind began. Drug overdoses and/or fatalities in Australia are at their lowest levels. Cigarettes and alcohol still cause 99 per cent of drug-related deaths. Nor are people informed, or aware, that today's drug users are, on average, more educated and responsible than their parents.
On balance, we're doing well controlling illicit drug usage. Fewer overdoses can only be good news. But who should be thanked? Drug control has never been high on the Federal Government's agenda, so it is misguided to attribute the progress of the past decade to it. Sure, it is busting its share of drug smugglers, thanks to tightened border control but, as the control board's report says, most of the drugs consumed here are made here.
The Government's other initiatives have been duds - print and TV advertising campaigns have been met with a mixture of amusement and disdain by a drug-using populace cynical of cliched scare tactics.
Yes, the drug-using public is safer and better educated than ever, and not because of the Government. Rather, it's a result of the rising trend of harm-minimisation as an alternative to zero tolerance.
This shift has been precipitated, in part, by the internet. Online forums such as bluelight.ru and pillreports.com allow anyone on the net to find out the exact contents of the pill they've just bought, or learn about the side effects of particular drugs. Tens of thousands access these sites daily.
Elsewhere, support groups for those trying to kick an illicit habit or recover from a bad experience are plentiful, non-judgemental and, most importantly, free.
These online communities and their offline counterparts operate on the assumption that drugs - from alcohol to opiates - will always be used and that education is the only way to reduce their harmful consequences.
It's a no-brainer: people want to know what they're putting into their bodies, and they don't want to be condemned. It's encouraging to note that, to date, almost all the harm minimisation and drug education has been implemented at the grassroots level: just imagine how many more lives could be saved if the Government got on board the harm minimisation train, too.
Of course, the Government would never condone harm minimisation. And perhaps unsurprisingly, when I asked the federal Health Minister, Tony Abbott, about online harm reduction communities late last year, he told me he'd never heard of them. "But any site encouraging drug use is encouraging its readers to dice with death," he told me. "It's incredibly irresponsible of them."
With a Government unwilling to engage in debate, the responsibility then falls to the media. Which, in light of this week's bumper crop of anti-drug stories, can be a depressing prospect.
By all means, keep us informed on new research, and don't stop showing us the human face of drug-use gone awry. But try to keep the hyperbole to a minimum. Things are getting better. And it's because those tempted to use drugs are able to make truly informed decisions.
Dan Stapleton is a freelance writer.
![url]](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2F%5Burl%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fi1.bluelight.ru%2Fpi%2F14.gif%5B%2Furl%5D&hash=17c29d71f67c4bce01f1f8d4bcb84f09)
