NEWS: [Herald Sun] - 21/03/2005 ' Drug cocktails on the menu'

[hoptis]

Utterly pointless, fear-mongering rubbish from the Herald Sun this morning. Mind you, she has managed to summarise quite well in the third paragraph a list of the best pills going around Melbourne at the moment.

Drug cocktails on the menu
Shelley Hodgson
21 Mar 2005

YOUNG Victorians are increasingly popping, injecting and smoking a dangerous cocktail mix of drugs.

Speed, ice, cannabis, ecstasy, GHB, ketamine, cocaine, heroin and LSD are all on the menu for young people in a world of ever-increasing choice.

And the list of ecstasy pills making their way on to the market is rising all the time. Blue DVDs, red and green Mitsubishis, orange butterflies, red/pink Russians and white VWs are just a handful of the designer drugs available in Melbourne recently.

The illicit drugs have one thing in common -- a plethora of unwanted side-effects. Some are even deadly.

"More drugs are available now in the last five years, so there's greater choice and that means people are using multiple drugs and that makes it more dangerous," Turning Point deputy director Alison Ritter said.

The Victorian Youth Alcohol and Drug Survey 2003 found 54 per cent of the 6000 16-24 year olds surveyed reported having used at least one illicit drug. Of those 43 per cent had used more than one.

About 19 per cent of young people had used ecstasy or other designer drugs. Of those 75 per cent had used alcohol at the same time, more than 50 per cent used cannabis, 36 per cent used amphetamines, 12 per cent cocaine, 11.5 per cent LSD and almost 10 per cent ketamine.

Metropolitan Ambulance Service paramedic Alan Eade said "poly-drug use" had been on the rise since the outbreak of the heroin drought.

"These days, however, no one takes just one tablet, everyone takes lots of tablets," he said. "As the party drug sector's got bigger, it's almost sort of mainstream."

Mr Eade said the MAS was receiving more cases related to psycho-stimulants such as ecstasy, amphetamines, methamphetamines and cocaine.

He said some drug users might take Viagra to counteract the effect psycho-stimulants have on sexual functioning, anti-depressants to counteract the come-down effect, or GHB at the end of a night to ease themselves down.

"A pure single drug overdose is a rarity and it should be assumed that if someone is presenting with overdose symptoms they have usually had more than one drug," Mr Eade said.

Inspector Steve James, manager of the Victoria Police drug and alcohol strategy unit, said mixing drugs together in a cocktail was common and could be deadly.

The Victorian Youth Alcohol and Drug Survey 2003 found 52 per cent of young people had used cannabis at some time in their life, 18.6 per cent had used ecstasy or designer drugs and 16 per cent had used amphetamines.

Methamphetamine use is also believed to be increasing dramatically.

From Herald Sun

Maybe if we're really lucky, Andrew Bolt can do an editorial on drugs and youth too.

 

[Norules]

Shit very typical Herald Sun article, though I think it was good that they pointed out that "A pure single drug overdose is a rarity . . .". I can't see the connection between rising "party drug use" and the so-called heroin drought.

 

[highflyer]

Also in that same paper there is another drug article with a table outlining the short term, long-term, and dangers of a variety of drugs.

It was all so negative drugs, and how ecstasy is a whole mixture of chemicals, you don't know what you're getting (like we don't know that).

Then in the very last sentence it says... "But [Proffessor Alison Ritter] said alcohol was the drug that caused the most harm to young people"

Which kind of changes from the point of the whole article, I'm not sure why, just found it funny.

 

[BigTrancer]

Hmm... it's possible to write an article that is completely factual, yet indicate a bias in opinion by using a careful choice of words to emphasize (for example) the negative implications. The bulk of the article is an empirical statement from the paramedic that they're seeing more cases where people are requiring ambulance attention due to polydrug use... which is backed up by statistics showing that drug use in general, and multi-drug use in particular is on the rise. Can be polydrug use be dangerous? Undoubtedly.

As a consequence of this, the paramedic says they assume anyone requiring ambulance attention for a drug-related emergency may be under the influence of a combination of drugs. IMHO this can only be a good thing, if it helps someone receive the correct treatment for their emergency!

BigTrancer

 

[peaked]

"These days, however, no one takes just one tablet, everyone takes lots of tablets," he said. "As the party drug sector's got bigger, it's almost sort of mainstream."

What a broad and innacurate generalisation. I only usually take one tablet, so that makes the above false. I think it should have been more along the lines of "Many uneducated users take numerous tablets, due to the fact that they know no information regarding dosage. This is because they are only ever exposed to negative mis/information regarding drugs, and nothing regarding harm minimisation. As the party drug sector's gotten bigger, more and more people have unnesecarily been harmed from lack of information." Pity a line such as this would never feature in a large newspaper.

 

[1_2_3_4_5_against_1]

Thats spot on Peaked, but unfortunately the stigma attatched to drugs is just further manipulated by mass media sensationalism, which in fact is just a tool to promote fear

 

[TranceNation]

Same good points yet again especially from our favourite Mod BT.

I just wanted to add , that the media and the're over exagerated stories really plagues the minds of ignorant parrents. My parrents being part of that.

When we get into heated arguments at home, its my parrents who continue to quote the media and their bollocks rather than listening to me.

Ive recommended they read through the BL forums for an un-biased view.

 

[TheYellowDart]

Ive recommended they read through the BL forums for an un-biased view.

I'm sorry, but while I think Bluelight can be a fantastic resource, it is far from unbiased. The vast majority of posters are very pro-drug policy reform and this definately comes through in the content of the posts.

 

[doofhard]

"These days, however, no one takes just one tablet, everyone takes lots of tablets," he said. "As the party drug sector's got bigger, it's almost sort of mainstream."


Even the media seems to be getting jaded about Raves