UK - Guardian/Mixmag drug survey reveals a generation happy to chance it

[edgarshade]

Guardian

Alexandra Topping
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 15 March 2012

Data shows predominantly white, educated and relatively healthy users willing to take significant risks with their health.

Respondents to the Guardian/Mixmag drug survey – for which 15,500 regular users such as James revealed everything from their drug of choice to the amount they pay for a gram of cocaine – do not easily conform to drug user stereotypes. Predominantly white, educated, relatively healthy people with an average age of 28, they are neither in rehab nor prison and rarely touch heroin or crack.

But the survey exposes a generation of drug-users willing to take significant risks with their health. Many respondents admitted to taking cocktails of drugs, mixing drugs with alcohol, and taking "mystery" white powder with little or no knowledge of its content.

"I think most people view drug-users as dependent or weaker in some way," said Luke, 20, who works for a removals and storage business. "In fact, the users that I regularly spend time with – myself included – are hard-working and socially functional people, just like many non-users."

Maryon Stewart, whose 21-year-old daughter, Hester, died in April 2009 after taking the club drug GBL in combination with alcohol, warns that the risks of legal highs are real. "Young people are playing russian roulette with their lives and wellbeing," she said. "There are risks when you know what you are taking, which are multiplied when you don't know what you are throwing down your throat."

Stewart set up the Angelus Foundation, which aims to educate users of the risks of taking legal highs and other drugs, and she says that simply banning new drugs is not the answer. "The prime minister has said he will stamp out legal highs, but how? All the government is doing is banning them one by one, which is pretty much a waste of time. For young people, raising awareness and education is key," she said.

Her foundation has launched a petition to encourage people to lobby the government to bring drug education on to the national curriculum.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/mar/15/respondents-guardian-mixmag-drug-survey?newsfeed=true

 

[edgarshade]

Related article

'Hidden' drug users who won't be found burgling your home to fund their habit

Guardian
Patrick Butler
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 15 March 2012

These detailed new insights reveal that despite media hype around illicit substances, alcohol is the bigger problem

You probably know one or two of Britain's "hidden" drug users, and may even be one yourself. They are often young, highly educated, working, sociable and sporty. They feel healthy, happy in their relationships, and confident about the future. They take cannabis, cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy) and, lest we forget, a fair amount of tobacco and alcohol.

They are, by and large, the drug users you rarely hear or read about, at least not in the social affairs pages. You won't find them in a crack den or breaking into your home to fund their habit. Their use of illegal drugs is a lifestyle choice: it doesn't define or consume them like some heroin and crack addicts. They don't register as an alert on the public health radar, or as a headline on the law and order agenda.

It also confirms truths that often get lost in the hysterical media discourse around drugs and public health: that taking drugs is, for many ordinary people, as normal and pleasurable a part of their lives as drinking or smoking.

They balance their desire for drug experiences with the demands of work, study and relationships. They see drug use as a choice, with desirable consequences, as well as risks.

More...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/mar/15/hidden-drug-users

 

[edgarshade]

Whole bunch of related articles in the Guardian today

With reader comments

Truth about young people and drugs revealed in Guardian survey

Patrick Butler, Alexandra Topping and Sarah Boseley
The Guardian, Thursday 15 March 2012

A fifth of young drug users admit to taking "mystery white powders" without any idea what they contain, according to an international Guardian survey that reveals the extent of reckless behaviour among a new generation of high-risk drug takers.

The poll of 15,500 people by the Guardian and Mixmag magazine also found that more respondents in the UK and US admitted taking cannabis than either tobacco or energy drinks. Those who defined themselves as clubbers were more likely to take ecstasy than smoke cigarettes.

The headline findings from what is one of the largest ever surveys of drug use raised alarm among health experts, who pointed out that even those who think they knew what they were taking could be consuming another drug entirely.

John Ramsey, toxicologist at St George's medical school in London, said: "It is amazing that so many people take mystery white powders. The truth is nobody knows what the risks are and it is patently dangerous to take untested drugs."

More...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/mar/15/truth-about-young-people-and-drugs

 

[edgarshade]

Quite a torrent coming from the Guardian today

Drug users might give up if the warnings were plausible

Zoe Williams
The Guardian, Thursday 15 March 2012

With reader comments

Here are the top lines from the Guardian-Mixmag drug use survey: 15,500 people responded, 60% through the Guardian, 7,700 in the UK, and they were all active drug users, which was defined as having taken drugs in the last three months.

By and large, they had high levels of satisfaction with life. They didn't feel defined by their drug use and they didn't see it as a problem. Asked which substances they'd like to cut down on, respondents overwhelmingly said tobacco, then heroin, then crack. For every other drug, from alcohol to cocaine, the majority using it were broadly happy with the amount they used.

But we already knew that, right? Nobody thinks that smoking a joint is the road to ruin. Nobody thinks that it would be impossible to take coke on a Saturday night and go to work on a Monday morning. I can no longer even imagine the sort of person that we're all supposed to believe still does think like this. It's as if we've all been minding our language for the sake of a fragile aunt who has actually died without anybody noticing.

More...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/15/drugs-policy-survey-political-credibility

 

[Crankinit]

I want to hit someone every time they compare drugs to playing russian roulette

 

[OTGee]

I really have to stop looking in drugs and the media, anything the media has to say about drugs just makes me fucking angry haha

 

[Albion]

Drug use: 20 things you might not know

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/datablog/2012/mar/15/global-drug-survey-us-uk

The Guardian/Mixmag global drug survey asked 15,500 people from the US, UK and around the world about their drug use. This is what it found

^Wasn't bluelight one of the forums used for the survey?

Which drugs do people take? The Guardian/Mixmag survey is one attempt to explain the facts behind this controversial issue - which sees users claim that more of them use cannabis than energy drinks.

Conducted by Global Drug Survey, we wanted to know which drugs people take, how often and why. The survey of 15,500 people studied a wide range of illict and legal substances, from alcohol and cannabis to cocaine and MDMA - as well as newer drugs such as mephedrone and synthetic cannabis. These are the results.

The answers came from countries around the world, mostly the UK and US. Here are some of the key findings:

• fifth of young drug users admit to taking "mystery white powders" without any idea what they contain - 15% of overall respondents say they have taken a unknown white powder in the last 12 months, a third admitting its was supplied by someone they didn't trust. But younger drug users were much more likely to take risks with unknown substances, with a fifth of all survey respondents aged between 18 and 25 saying they had taken mystery powders
• more respondents in the UK and US admitted to taking cannabis than either tobacco or energy drinks
• Those who defined themselves as clubbers were more likely to take ecstasy than smoke cigarettes
• 3.5% of those in the UK said they had even taken ecstasy, or MDMA, anally
• Alcohol is used regularly by almost all drug users, and apart from tobacco, the substance respondents would most like to take less of. Two-thirds of male respondents and 60% of women drank reported drinking at hazardous or harmful levels - though a fifth of regarded their drinking as average or below average levels

There's a cool little animation if you follow this link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/datablog/video/2012/mar/15/drugs-use-animation-20-facts?fb=native

 

[jancrow]

I like the Saturday Night Fever dancefloor mainly.