Fry-d-
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Oct 21, 1999
- Messages
- 4,504
Amphetamine epidemic taking a grip
Paul Lampathakis and Tessa Heal report
05mar06
AMPHETAMINES are the new beer for young people.
Partying for young people used to be about beer, spirits and maybe some marijuana. In recent years, snorting, swallowing, smoking or injecting amphetamines has become the norm.
A night out clubbing, a trip to a music festival or just a house party now often involve contacting people to buy speed (amphetamines) and ecstasy.
Alcohol abuse is well known for leading to violence and road deaths, but speed binges add psychosis and paranoia to violent urges, leading to extreme behaviour – as doctors, nurses, police and welfare workers have been experiencing first-hand.
Since heroin started becoming more scarce about six years ago, amphetamine use has escalated. Despite violence on the streets, in hospitals and at entertainment venues, the havoc wrought by the speed epidemic has gone on almost unnoticed by the WA public.
Mainly girls, but also boys, as young as 15, are trading sexual favours to get the drugs that either help them fit in with peers or, in some cases, merely make them feel normal and able to get through the day.
Relationships in ordinary middle-class suburbs have been ripped apart by partners driven to violence or psychosis because of amphetamine habits. And these drugs, which can come in crystal or powder form, are easy to obtain.
They are dealt out of homes in affluent and poor suburbs to the richest of our young people as well as the most impoverished, in fast-food outlet car parks, in clubs, in pubs – even in schools.
Glass pipes used to smoke crystal methamphetamine, known as ice, are available in Perth delis and convenience stores for less than $20.
The Department of Consumer and Employment Protection wants them banned from sale, with a decision due within two weeks.
"Ice pipes" are banned currently only in Victoria and South Australia. In Victoria, selling the pipes can result in fines of up to $60,000.
WA Police Alcohol and Drug Co-ordination Unit acting Sen-Sgt Kevin Tinley said banning the pipes was only one action needed to stop the consumption of the dangerous and addictive drug, but it would at least stop some people from using it.
"It is an offence to have the drug, yet the paraphernalia for its exclusive use is available for anyone to buy, which sends crossed messages to the community," he said.
"People using the drug are a significant risk to police officers and the community because of the effects and dangers of the drug."
National Drug Strategy Household Survey figures show that in 2004 more than 20 per cent of people aged between 20 and 29 years old had used amphetamines. About 9 per cent of 18 to 19-year-olds had also taken the drug.
Police say nearly half the offenders brought to the East Perth Lock-up have used amphetamines in the 24 hours before being arrested.
Doctors on the front line in hospital emergency rooms attest to the extreme effects of speed abuse, telling of drug-affected patients behaving like "wild animals" and threatening the lives of staff.
They describe how security guards have to restrain such patients, who are then knocked out with sedatives and on many ocassions referred to psychiatric services.
Mental-health nurses, who take over such patients after their hospital treatment, tell of violent and paranoid speed users attacking them after admission for drug-induced psychosis.
"They're sent over from Charlie's (Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital) and other hospitals, and they have no insight that they are exhibiting bizarre behaviour," a mental health worker said.
"They think there's nothing wrong with them. They say it's not the drugs. So they become aggressive and violent toward us because they believe we're keeping them locked up for nothing."
Such workers said up to 30 per cent of patients in acute wards in the mental-health system had used speed, usually with other drugs.
Australian Medical Association (WA) president Paul Skerritt estimated about 5 per cent of such admissions were connected to speed, but he acknowledged the higher figures might be accurate. He said up to 80 per cent of in-patients in acute mental health units had recently used drugs – cannabis being the main culprit.
He also pointed to figures from Royal Perth Hospital toxicologist Frank Daley that about 1 per cent of all emergency admissions were attributable to speed abuse.
Dr Skerritt said that about 40 per cent of those patients were referred to psychiatric services and 60 per cent were among the most serious category of patients.
" They're not just having some bad trip, they're really ill," he said.
Amphetamines could provoke a psychotic reaction in anybody. Many people recovered after a few days, but others developed mainstream mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or depression.
Dr Skerritt had heard of sexual favours being exchanged for drugs.
Users told The Sunday Times sordid stories about the sexual exploitation of young teens by dealers.
"Some girls are about 15 or 16 and they (dealers) give them a taste and once they're into it, they'll do anything for it," one user said. "Threesomes, foursomes, anything goes. They're not really hooking (being prostitutes) because they're not working on the street."
Another user said: "They'll just do anything to get some speed (amphetamines) or pills (ecstasy). Some are so young. By the time they're 18 or 20, they've seen a lot of life."
Carol Daws, director of the drug and alcohol-treatment centre Cyrenian House, said exchanging sex for drugs was not new, but users were now much younger.
"People are not in a position to make good decisions when they are using at an early age. (We have) reports of a range of women talking specifically about exchanging sex for drugs . . . and women get into some relationships because men are dealers."
Ms Daws said society had to start viewing drug problems as a health concern rather than a "moral deficiency" so more users seek treatment.
Mission Australia operations manager Carmen Acosta said sexual bartering was only one of numerous risks for young users, many of whom lived in unsafe accommodation or on the street, where drug and alcohol use, sexual abuse, or crimes were occurring.
Dr Skerritt and drug counsellors called for stronger links between mental health and drug and alcohol services.
From Sundaytimes.com.au
Paul Lampathakis and Tessa Heal report
05mar06
AMPHETAMINES are the new beer for young people.
Partying for young people used to be about beer, spirits and maybe some marijuana. In recent years, snorting, swallowing, smoking or injecting amphetamines has become the norm.
A night out clubbing, a trip to a music festival or just a house party now often involve contacting people to buy speed (amphetamines) and ecstasy.
Alcohol abuse is well known for leading to violence and road deaths, but speed binges add psychosis and paranoia to violent urges, leading to extreme behaviour – as doctors, nurses, police and welfare workers have been experiencing first-hand.
Since heroin started becoming more scarce about six years ago, amphetamine use has escalated. Despite violence on the streets, in hospitals and at entertainment venues, the havoc wrought by the speed epidemic has gone on almost unnoticed by the WA public.
Mainly girls, but also boys, as young as 15, are trading sexual favours to get the drugs that either help them fit in with peers or, in some cases, merely make them feel normal and able to get through the day.
Relationships in ordinary middle-class suburbs have been ripped apart by partners driven to violence or psychosis because of amphetamine habits. And these drugs, which can come in crystal or powder form, are easy to obtain.
They are dealt out of homes in affluent and poor suburbs to the richest of our young people as well as the most impoverished, in fast-food outlet car parks, in clubs, in pubs – even in schools.
Glass pipes used to smoke crystal methamphetamine, known as ice, are available in Perth delis and convenience stores for less than $20.
The Department of Consumer and Employment Protection wants them banned from sale, with a decision due within two weeks.
"Ice pipes" are banned currently only in Victoria and South Australia. In Victoria, selling the pipes can result in fines of up to $60,000.
WA Police Alcohol and Drug Co-ordination Unit acting Sen-Sgt Kevin Tinley said banning the pipes was only one action needed to stop the consumption of the dangerous and addictive drug, but it would at least stop some people from using it.
"It is an offence to have the drug, yet the paraphernalia for its exclusive use is available for anyone to buy, which sends crossed messages to the community," he said.
"People using the drug are a significant risk to police officers and the community because of the effects and dangers of the drug."
National Drug Strategy Household Survey figures show that in 2004 more than 20 per cent of people aged between 20 and 29 years old had used amphetamines. About 9 per cent of 18 to 19-year-olds had also taken the drug.
Police say nearly half the offenders brought to the East Perth Lock-up have used amphetamines in the 24 hours before being arrested.
Doctors on the front line in hospital emergency rooms attest to the extreme effects of speed abuse, telling of drug-affected patients behaving like "wild animals" and threatening the lives of staff.
They describe how security guards have to restrain such patients, who are then knocked out with sedatives and on many ocassions referred to psychiatric services.
Mental-health nurses, who take over such patients after their hospital treatment, tell of violent and paranoid speed users attacking them after admission for drug-induced psychosis.
"They're sent over from Charlie's (Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital) and other hospitals, and they have no insight that they are exhibiting bizarre behaviour," a mental health worker said.
"They think there's nothing wrong with them. They say it's not the drugs. So they become aggressive and violent toward us because they believe we're keeping them locked up for nothing."
Such workers said up to 30 per cent of patients in acute wards in the mental-health system had used speed, usually with other drugs.
Australian Medical Association (WA) president Paul Skerritt estimated about 5 per cent of such admissions were connected to speed, but he acknowledged the higher figures might be accurate. He said up to 80 per cent of in-patients in acute mental health units had recently used drugs – cannabis being the main culprit.
He also pointed to figures from Royal Perth Hospital toxicologist Frank Daley that about 1 per cent of all emergency admissions were attributable to speed abuse.
Dr Skerritt said that about 40 per cent of those patients were referred to psychiatric services and 60 per cent were among the most serious category of patients.
" They're not just having some bad trip, they're really ill," he said.
Amphetamines could provoke a psychotic reaction in anybody. Many people recovered after a few days, but others developed mainstream mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or depression.
Dr Skerritt had heard of sexual favours being exchanged for drugs.
Users told The Sunday Times sordid stories about the sexual exploitation of young teens by dealers.
"Some girls are about 15 or 16 and they (dealers) give them a taste and once they're into it, they'll do anything for it," one user said. "Threesomes, foursomes, anything goes. They're not really hooking (being prostitutes) because they're not working on the street."
Another user said: "They'll just do anything to get some speed (amphetamines) or pills (ecstasy). Some are so young. By the time they're 18 or 20, they've seen a lot of life."
Carol Daws, director of the drug and alcohol-treatment centre Cyrenian House, said exchanging sex for drugs was not new, but users were now much younger.
"People are not in a position to make good decisions when they are using at an early age. (We have) reports of a range of women talking specifically about exchanging sex for drugs . . . and women get into some relationships because men are dealers."
Ms Daws said society had to start viewing drug problems as a health concern rather than a "moral deficiency" so more users seek treatment.
Mission Australia operations manager Carmen Acosta said sexual bartering was only one of numerous risks for young users, many of whom lived in unsafe accommodation or on the street, where drug and alcohol use, sexual abuse, or crimes were occurring.
Dr Skerritt and drug counsellors called for stronger links between mental health and drug and alcohol services.
From Sundaytimes.com.au
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
