NEWS: ABC - 18/06/07 'UN drugs report highlights Australian ice problem'

[lil angel15]

UN drugs report highlights Australian ice problem
AM - Monday, 18 June , 2007 08:21:00
Reporter: Rafael Epstein

TONY EASTLEY: Another international drug report is expected to warn Australia about the growing dangers of the methamphetamine or ice market. The United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime will release its report into illicit drug use in Australia this week.

The Office's Under-Secretary-General, Antonio Maria Costa, will visit Sydney and Melbourne delivering his verdict on the impact of Australia's drug policies on drug consumption. He spoke to our Europe Correspondent Rafael Epstein.

ANTONIO MARIA COSTA: Drug use levels are pretty high still in Australia, and we know that by international standards, but the situation is less alarming than a decade ago, and this is because very forceful initiatives have been undertaken by the Government.

My recommendation to the Government is to continue along this path and indeed show further results in the years to come.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Australia, like many countries, has a problem with methamphetamine, ice, however you like to call it. And in particular, Western Australia believes it has a problem with a higher than the national average use of that drug, and they're going to have a summit on it soon.

I wonder if the same methods used for other illicit drugs - speed, cocaine, heroin - the same law enforcement and education programs, is it a similar thing for ice? Should the same sorts of programs be pursued?

ANTONIO MARIA COSTA: As I've seen, you are putting the finger on the real difficult question we are facing. To a large extent, methamphetamines escape the pattern of the other drugs. First, because they are manufactured not in a faraway location, very often in the same country, and it even happens in the same city, or perhaps even in the same neighbourhood where they are consumed.

As a consequence, even the law enforcement approach tends to be very different, and I would say impaired, as against what happens to opium and heroin, you know, coming from ten of thousands of miles away, Afghanistan, Myanmar and so on and so forth.

So, we have a law enforcement problem, I would say even a gap or a difficulty. Second, is produced with readily-available, in most cases, precursors and therefore even the measures and the mechanisms and the intelligence and the control delivery and everything else which has been established for more difficult to find precursors, it does not apply to this.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: You mean where it's difficult to find the contents for something like speed, the ingredients, you don't have that problem with ice?

ANTONIO MARIA COSTA: And it is also more difficult to find the contents. So, all of this creates a very different paradigm. In addition to, on the consumption side, the question of people feeling that, you know, mothers saying "Well, you know, as long as my son does not inject it, it's okay, it's just a pill, you know, he takes sleeping pills, or I take …" sort of a benign neglect which is very detrimental.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Are you saying that smoking a drug like ice or taking it in another non-intravenous way is the same as injecting some other drugs?

ANTONIO MARIA COSTA: Well, in terms of consequences on the brain, you know, amphetamines and methamphetamines have one dramatic consequence and impact on the health of individuals, they basically drill holes, if you allow me this metaphor, in the brain of the consuming individuals.

But the damage is irreversible in terms of consequences on the functioning of the brain. So all of this calls for significant attentions on the severity of the problem.

TONY EASTLEY: The UN Drugs on Crime Office's Antonio Maria Costa speaking there with out Europe Correspondent Rafael Epstein.

ABC

 

[juice_soldier]

Mmmhmm, more of the drilling holes shit... people take these 'metaphors' far to seriously, i really think politicians should step out from using metaphorical terms. The minute the media gets onto that statement, i can see the headlines "NEW DRUG ICE NOW DRILLING HOLES IN YOUR CHILDS BRAIN", and 3 days later i'll hear "oh man, haven't you heard - that shit puts holes in your brain - i saw it on oprah.."


Come off it, the only thing its drilling holes in is their personality.

 

[hyroller]

brain damage? they should be far more worried about the psychoses it induces.

 

[Special-T.B.K]

brain damage? they should be far more worried about the psychoses it induces.

100% agree. Kudos Hyroller. If only Beuracrates could think progressviely like that. I think Brain Damage from Ice use comes after quite a long term of using the drug. Psychosis on the other hand I have never encountered using Ice, though 1 time I was quite paranoid... like never before it.

But yes, Pollies need to listen to drug users, not their own 'ideals' on drugs.

SpecTBK

 

[PsiloSubNaut]

100% agree. Kudos Hyroller. If only Beuracrates could think progressviely like that. I think Brain Damage from Ice use comes after quite a long term of using the drug. Psychosis on the other hand I have never encountered using Ice, though 1 time I was quite paranoid... like never before it.

But yes, Pollies need to listen to drug users, not their own 'ideals' on drugs.

SpecTBK

I totally agree!

 

[Splatt]

Brain damage is the definite result in long term Ice use, but a high dose of high purity methamphetamine (and remember the most common recreational dose is normally 10 times than the medicinal dose (5mg), taking into account recent reports of high quality meth/ice still only being 50% or so) But I still think doing it once causes brain damage, and a lot more so than MDMA.