lil angel15
Bluelight Crew
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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.
dailymercury.com