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Today Tonight - Another great story

Jizzo said:
I don't know why I did it, but all I can say is that I am now hooked on the drug and will only stop taking it after it's killed me.
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What a fucking stupid attitude. People like you who eat them like M'n'Ms and end up in hospital are the fuckwits who paint a bad picture for sensible drug users.
 
lol jizzo is probably the stupid reporter from today tonight.

is it even possible to have a 4 - 5 pill a day habit? i mean seriously from what i have read its not possible. i wonder where these "reporters" get their facts.

E IS LIKE HEROIN BEWARE.

fucking scare tactics, they are so stupid i swear.
 
Immortal I think Jizzo's post may just have slightly been in jest.


On a side note who do we all love more Naomi Robsin or Anna Corren?

I think Naomi still takes cake as most judgemental whore on television, but Anna is rapidly bringing up the rear.


Beech
 
If it was sarcastic, then i apologise but it didnt sound like it.

What also pissed me off with the story (thanks Sp0t for the download) was that Anna's dad mentioned that it destroys your brain and that that was the only organ in her body that was damaged.

If anyone is familiar with her story, everyone will know that she died as a result of hyponatremia, which caused her brain to swell and eventually caused her severe brain damage and death. It had nothing to do with the actual drug causing physical damage to her brain.

Ughhh i hate current affair programs.....!
 
The following programs both focus on MDMA, but are very different from each other, and far more realistic than the Today Tonight program. (available as torrent bit streams - utorrent.com/)

The first, Ecstasy_Rising is a doco from ABC television (US). Made a year or so ago, this film covers MDMA in a very unbiased manner. While the negatives of the drug are addressed, so are the positives. It starts at the beginning - bascially in Shulgins lab - and goes on to explain how the drug surfaced among psychologists and club goers before popularity spread to people from all walks of life. It also covers the medical and research sides of MDMA, and there's a rather entertaining segment addressing law enforcement and how widespread popularity of the drug caught the DEA by surprise.

The second film is a story involving a father who gave ecstasy to his kids; available here. This is a very sad story in many ways. Any perceived positives at the beginning are quickly countered by the effects of the drug on the father, and in particular, on his decisions regarding the wellbeing of his children. IMO, this depicts perhaps the worst potential a drug like MDMA can have on susceptible individuals. For most people, at best, this film will leave you with a rather unsavory feeling towards inappropriate use of MDMA.


These are the sorts of films that should be shown on Australian TV. The impact would be considerable, and IMO result in more of deterrent effect than the currently employed scare tactic policies which are grossly inaccurate in places.
 
without downloading it can you tell me how old the children were when this father gave them the drug?
 
oh god. i downloaded the story and i felt sick watching it. just the total amount of bullshit makes me vomit. god damn. how can people believe shit like this?
 
Whatever you may like to think, ecstasy is a harmful and habit-forming substance which adversely affects memory, concentration and mood, and has the potential to cause death.

The fewer people that take it, the fewer people are exposed to problems.

I don't see anything wrong with the media scaring people off using ecstasy, in whatever way they choose, as long as there are also sources of harm minimisation information for those that decide to try it anyway.

You people have already chosen to use ecstasy, so this programme probably won't change your opinion. Why get all upset that the media is successfully making non-users think twice before starting?

clop
 
What a crock of shit, it's sad my parents lap this up as the utter truth.
 
pza said:
***Taken from today tonight web site www.todaytonight.com.au***

As we prepare to welcome in the New Year, Australians are being urged to remember that there is a dangerous side to party drugs.

Detective Paul Willingham of the New South Wales Drug Squad said one of the many dangers of party drugs was that there was no way of knowing exactly what you are taking.

"You literally don't know what you are getting," Willingham said.

"There's no standards, there's no controls."

He said that it was common for drug dealers to add other ingredients such as caffeine or a veterinary anesthetic like ketamine to ecstasy tablets.

Psychiatrist and head of the Brain and Mind Research Institute, Professor Ian Hickie, said party drugs were harmful substances and can even trigger the onset of mental illness.

"If you care about your brain and if you care about your memory, your concentration, your emotions, your behaviour, being able to function as an adult then avoid these substances at all cost," Hickie said.

"We would give a clear warning, it's dangerous in animals and it's highly likely to cause brain injury in humans."

Tony Wood, whose daughter, Anna, died of an ecstasy overdose 10 years ago when she was just 15, wants Australians to know that party drugs are killers.

"Ecstasy destroys your brain, what it did with Anna, the only organ in Anna's body that was damaged was her brain all her other organs were donated," Tony said.

"Anna stopped breathing in my arms on the staircase of that house, I know she died in my arms."

Anna was the first person known to have died from taking ecstacy in Australia.

"Our life altered from there on and we're still doing this sort of anti-drug campaigning now and I'm trying to warn kids that this stuff is dangerous," Tonysaid.

Despite their hard work, Tony and Angela believe Australia has learnt nothing in the decade since Anna died.

"Ten years ago we knew exactly what we know now nothing has changed," Angela said.

"Well actually it's just got worse, the evidence that we're finding is that the drug situation is far worse with our kids today than it was 10 years ago," Tony said.

Detective Paul Willingham said police recently discovered the country's biggest ecstasy laboratory so far in Riverstone in Sydney's West.

"The main reaction vessel was a thousand litres," Willingham said.

"There were 3,300 litre reaction vessels and there were three pill presses in addition to about 30 kilos of end MDMA that was found."

"Just the drugs there at the time were capable of producing 350,000 tablets so you're looking at a multi-million dollar venture."

Despite the dangers, ecstasy use is not uncommon among young Australians.

Amy*, now 20, said she first took the drug when she was about 17.

"I just had one and it was just a really good feeling," Amy said.

But then she got hooked on ecstasy, taking up to four tablets a day.

She lived with dealers who gave a free and unlimited supply.

"I had long periods of time when I didn't sleep a blink and then the downfall of it was really bad, I'd lay there and just couldn't be bothered doing anything for days," she said.

"I would get involved in really bad stuff… criminal activity… just really causing trouble around the shire where I lived," she said.

"It just wasn't good, stealing..."

After a four day bender with no sleep, Amy checked into rehab and has since managed to stay off drugs.

Amy said getting hooked on ecstasy is a bad mistake.

"It just ruins your life, big time," she said.

Michael Milojkovic has also been affected by drugs.

He has just kicked a five-pill a day habit and warns of the addictive nature of ecstasy.

"It made me feel good, happy, I felt like dancing and it put me in a very good mood," Michael said.

"I used to spend my whole pay cheque in that and other stuff."

"Once you get hooked, it's pretty hard to get off and you shouldn't use it regularly… because it loses its effects, you have to take more and more to get the same effects."
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and

Xihias said:
What a crock of shit, it's sad my parents lap this up as the utter truth.
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Xihias which part of the quote from the programme don't you agree with? It seems pretty factual to me. Sensationalist perhaps, but not false. Your parents lapping up the utter truth that ecstasy is uncontrolled and harmful and habit-forming and has the potential to cause death, and you know they're right - it's all those things.

What's a little disconcerting is that you think you need your parents permission to make your own decisions. My parents know I take ecstasy, why would I keep it from them? They have their opinion and I have mine. If you're living at home and they think you should stick to their rules then they're right - if you don't like the rules then move out, as I did when I was 17.

clop
 
Of coarse today tonight arnt going to make a report on "How ecstasy helps youths", it doesnt go with what the general populus belives. If there were more people taking ekkies than those who dont than today tonight would report "How ecstasy helps youths".
The more people who are swayed towards what they are reporting the more viewers they get.
 
Your right clop that ecstacy does cause harm but history shows us that using scare tactics to try and stop people using it doesn't work. In any anti drug campaign the "just say no" message hasn't worked. It didn't work with cigarettes, it doesn't work with illicit drugs.
The information when in text doesn't quite look so biased but when presented on the program it was very biases and sensationalised. I would like to see a study that conclusively proves that ecstacy "destroys the brain", then I would be more likely to be able to swallow the brand of reporting that current affairs programs serve up.
Many substances "have the ability to cause death" and "adversely affects memory, concentration and mood" but we don't adopt a Just Say No approach to them, we say ok, if your going to consume it, do it safely and in moderation. This doesn't just apply to illicit substances, it includes caffine, sugar, energy drinks and junk food. Just like ecstacy they can have negative effects but don't neccessarily. I don't know about you but I know of people who are able to use ecstacy and are fine in subsequent days, they are able to concentrate and function normally, so I don't think its fair to definitively state that ecstacy HAS said effects.

Anyway a bit more related to the topic, not all media reporting is poor on drug use. Much of the information presented on JJJ is quite level and unbiased with positives and negatives presented. I'd suggest listening to Hack which is on at 5pm I think, it often has drug related stories.


Beec

*edit: spelt my name wrong
 
beech said:
Your right clop that ecstacy does cause harm but history shows us that using scare tactics to try and stop people using it doesn't work. In any anti drug campaign the "just say no" message hasn't worked. It didn't work with cigarettes, it doesn't work with illicit drugs.
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I completely disagree with this. Scare tactics do work. I never started smoking cigarettes because I knew they would be bad for me. In any case, the Today Tonight programme isn't simply a "Just Say No" message. They've used examples, rare I admit, but valid nonetheless, to demonstrate how ecstasy can be dangerous.

At least 75% of my friends have never taken ecstasy and say they never will. When I ask them why they cite examples of ecstasy-related deaths like that of Leah Betts, which occurred more than a decade ago. When I ask them who else they can think of that has died from taking ecstasy they can never think of any, but the fact remains that they have seen evidence that it can seriously harm them, and choose not to take it based on this information.

To me this is a good thing. The fewer people that take it the better.

If a study conclusively proving that ecstasy causes long-term damage to the brain is published, will you then stop using it? Although not yet proven there's still a good chance that some form of damage is taking place at some level. Just because it hasn't been discovered yet doesn't mean it isn't there. Simply hoping that it's safe, or ignoring the possibility that it may cause harmful effects, is pretty immature in my opinion. And arguing that it doesn't cause long-term harm is just ridiculous. If post-graduate research scientists that have spent years working in this field don't know for sure, how the hell would you know?

Rarrr said that it "helps youths" - how does it help them exactly? Yes it's great for getting munted at the weekend but how is this helping anyone? It's hedonism, not help. The only true beneficial uses I've seen have been for relationship counselling and the treatment of certain psychological conditions.

I really don't see why it's better to not discourage people from taking ecstasy.

clop
 
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I don't have the time or inclination to dig up a load of studies into methods of drug education/use prevention/harm minimisation v other methods, but I have written a drug resource kit from a harm minimisation perspective and have implemented it into secondary schools. I found that in research I've done, statastics show that the "Just Say No" style campaigns don't work because they are not based around information. You don't smoke because you know it is bad for you, not because you were told smoking is bad. I'm assuming you weren't just told smoking is bad don't do it. I imagine you were told that smoking can cause cancer and various other health problems so you shouldn't do it. Same with alcohol, we aren't told simply alcohol is bad don't take too much of it, we are told of the dangers of alcohol use and are able to weigh up the benefits of alcohol against the negatives of it and then decide whether to drink it or how much. There is no reason why this should be any different with drugs.
Scare tactics may work in the short term but in the long term curiousity often prevails, when this happens if no information has been presented then there is much more scope for things to go wrong. An excellent example would be with GHB. Someone who has some knowledge of it and decides they want to take it may be able to use the drug in the safest possible manner, someone with no education of the substance may who decides they wish to try it may very well overdose. Common sense would dictate that education saves lives.

I'm not saying we should at all encourage the use of drugs but I believe a balanced presentation of the facts is required. Education should certainly not condone the use of drugs but it also shouldn't condemn.
 
I didn't say you wanted to encourage people to take ecstasy, but that you didn't want to discourage them. Not smoking was drummed into me from a very young age, certainly from the age of 7 or 8, and it stuck with me. It wasn't much about cancer, it was just "smoking is bad". I know for certain that I will never start smoking cigarettes.

And no I don't think that curiosity does often prevail. In many cases (such as me) I succumbed to the "Just Say No" doctrine and didn't try ecstasy until I was over 30, but most of my friends simply won't entertain the idea at all - and they don't really know anything about it, and they don't want to know anything about it, because they believe it's bad for you and that's enough to put them off. Even if the "Just Say No" tactic prevents only 25% of its audience from ever trying ecstasy then it is a success.

But for all those that do become curious and decide to try it anyway (like me) there are plenty of harm minimisation resources like bluelight to refer to for information.

Like, where's the problem?

clop
 
I didn't say you said I wanted to encourage people, i was just saying that I don't. "The just say no" campaign may have worked for you but statistically you are in the minority.
Are you suggesting something along the lines of ignorance is bliss? I'm don't know how old you are but obviously your over 30 and maybe things were slightly different when and where you grew up but scare tactics and education based upon prohibition do not work anymore and the effectiveness of them ever accross the course of history is very questionable.
If there was only the prohibition/just say no doctrine then places like Bluelight wouldn't exist or people wouldn't know about them.
My problem with programs like Today Tonight, A Current Affair and talkback figures like John Laws, Neil Mitchell and Steve Price is that if they had their way no information would be available about drugs and anyone who has touched a pill or line would be in jail and this would not lead to a safer community, simplier a more clandestine and dangerous community with a greater incidence of drug related injuries/deaths.


Beech
 
OK peace beech.

I can't wait to hear Rarrr explain to me how taking ecstasy helps youths.

clop
 
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