Have you ever considered the significant impact your alcohol consumption is having on your life and that of others?
I came across a fascinating article by Ruari Fairbairns on the mindbodygreen website. He relates his story of being a regular (not excessive) drinker and deciding to abstain from alcohol completely for 90 days.
What he found was stunning.
There are a lot of myths about Marijuana. Marijuana is widely regarded as one of the softer drugs in our society. While it is arguably less dangerous than heroin or ice, it is nonetheless an illegal drug. As with most illicit drugs, there are a lot of misconceptions in the general public.
Ignorance is clearly dangerous when it comes to consuming substances that alter perception and the ability to make proper judgements. Here are ten of the most common and serious myths about marijuana.
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Australia is the world’s highest consumer of illicit recreational drugs. It is not a reputation to be proud of.
One reason why we’ve won “the gold medal” in drug use is down to the explosive increase in the availability and consumption of Ice.
The National Drug Survey revealed that approximately half of all methamphetamine users consume Ice and the number of people on Ice has doubled.
This is a real-life confession from an Ice user who revealed how it is possible that illicit drugs can be present in the workplace without employers knowing.
It is a scary reminder to management that what seems to be alright…with trusted workers being punctual and putting in a good day’s effort…might be disguising something much more sinister. This is why no-one can claim to have a drug-safe workplace unless they have examined it and implemented a professional drug-safe regime.
Methodone is an opioid and used as a prescription drug to curb withdrawal symptoms for heroin addicts. It is actually a synthetic version of heroin which mimics the effects that a heroin user experiences.
What needs to be said at the outset is that methodone is a powerful drug. When a heroin user stops taking heroin and joins a legal methodone program they are not going ‘clean’. They are not going ‘cold turkey’. They have simply replaced one destructive substance for another.
Methodone is not safe. It does have an affect on your body. For example, it is a depressant and it dramatically slows down the messages between your brain and your body.
Methodone might be helping addicts to stay away from heroin but it is not helping them walk away from drugs altogether. It is highly addictive. It is a free narcotic that provides them with the ‘hit’ they crave. Yes, it is professionally managed through pharmacies which determine the dosages but don’t forget it is simply a regulated synthetic drug replacing an uncontrolled opiate.
Are you aware that there are methadone users who attend the methadone clinics with dentist type cotton packs in their cheeks so that they can fill the cotton wool with the methadone dose and sell it on the street for their next hit of heroin.
History shows that about eight out of every 10 heroin users are still reliant on the drug. Few people walk away.
Having explained this it seems to be madness that methodone users are legally allowed to get behind the wheel of a car.
They are experiencing similar mental-physical-psychological effects to what heroin delivers but they are allowed to be in control of a fast moving object which requires split second decision making to operate.
How can this be right?
The law says a person can have methodone in their body whilst they are driving…but they cannot be under the influence of it.
Herein lies the insanity. If a person has consumed methodone (it is taken orally under supervision) – it is affecting them.
A synthetic substance foreign to the natural body has been injected into the blood stream which is present in every part of the body. Secondly, we are asking a person whose judgement and logic is impaired by methodone to self-diagnose if they are ‘under the influence’ or not. It is like asking an alcoholic if they are drunk while they drink and drive.
When a Drug-Safe Communities field tester identifies a person with alcohol or a narcotic in their system we are required by law to provide alternative transport to take them to a safe environment to recover…until they can indicate through a drug test that they are free of any effects.
So, why is it that a customer of ours is not allowed by law to drive and yet methodone users can?
The insanity of this legislation hit us all with tragic and shocking reality on Boxing Day. A 50 year old NSW South Coast man who was driving home after having attended a methodone clinic crossed on to the wrong side of the road and went head-on into a car carrying the Falkholt family.
The methodone user and Mr and Mrs Falkholt were killed instantly in the crash which caused both vehicles to catch fire. Annabelle, 21, has since passed away in hospital and Jessica, 28, is fighting for her life a fortnight after the tragedy.
The driver was known to police. He had been jailed for driving whilst being disqualified from driving.
Surely this terrible incident is enough reason for the Government to introduce legislation that prevents all methadone patients from having a driver’s licence. I believe they all should lose their licence until they can demonstrate that they are clean.
Statistics reveal that 383 people lost their lives in vehicle accidents in New South Wales during 2017. This was the worst figure for any state and territory in Australia. The facts also show that in the period between 2012-2016 there was an historic shift in that alcohol was overtaken by drugs as a contributor to fatal accidents.
For decades the authorities, advertising and media have focused on drinking and driving. The impact of these messages was so powerful that it is now socially unacceptable to be over the limit and drive.
Well, times have changed. Up until 2016, 18 percent of vehicle fatalities were drug-related compared to 16 percent connected to alcohol.
Given the horror stories we hear every week at Drug-Safe Communities about the prevalence of drugs, such as Ice, one would expect this statistic to change for the worse in 2018.
In early January I spoke to Mark Levy, on 2GB’s Ray Hadley Show, and I applaud him for ‘being right on the money’. He has been quick to pick up on this methodone situation and the change in road toll statistics. He said something has to be done to get methodone users off the road, and I agree 100 percent with him. Mark said he is not going to let this situation ‘go away’ and I will be supporting him all the way. Go get ‘em, Mark!
A 42 year old truckie who faced Mackay Supreme Court for drug possession revealed that he was carrying enough Ice in his truck to drive 42 trips under its influence.
He said there was constant pressure from his employers to cover long distances and he was driving up to 140 hours per week, and needed the Ice to stay awake.
Police pulled the B-double over after another truck driver reported he had seen it swerve across the road, and they found $5000 of methamphetamines in bags in the cabin.
Since being apprehended the driver has stopped taking the drug, he has changed from long haul to short distance local routes and changed industries to drive a front end loader.
HMAS Arunta is returning to port after a nine month deployment in which time it discovered over 1.3 tonnes of illegal drugs hidden inside foreign vessels bound for Australia.
The crew seized 800kg of hashish in March, 250kg of heroin in May and another 260kg of heroin in June. HMAS Newcastle will take over from Arunta in the same region.
News of large drug hauls appears weekly and the latest find by police was $127,500 worth of methamphetamine and MDMA in a vehicle in rural WA…
Paul Carter was once a Sydney Roosters rugby league player but he is going to face court on a charge of supplying cocaine. It is alleged he was the one who gave it to disgraced plater Shaun Kenny-Dowall…
A 19 year old who sold a large amount of drugs to an undercover police officer on the north coast of NSW has avoided jail. He has been given a two year intensive corrections order with 16 conditions included in it and if he breaches them he will go to jail…
A 22 year old ice user became so mentally unstable that his Aunty had to admit him to a mental health facility and while there he became so aggravated that he punched his fist through a wall…
Queensland police have found an elaborate hydroponic marijuana cultivation operation on a rural property which was deep underground…
Security at NSW prisons is being questioned following the release of a video by a person who claims he was an inmate at Parklea Correctional Centre. In the video he is seen holding Ice.
The Australian Journal of Pharmacy has reported that in the latest National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) it shows that more people aged over 40 are taking illegal substances.
The proportion of people questioned by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare with a positive response jumped to 16 per cent.
The most commonly used drugs across all age groups are cannabis, pharmaceuticals (misused, not taken for their proper reason), cocaine and ecstasy.
Ice is the most used methamphetamine – it leapt from 22% in 2010 to 57% today. In fact, methamphetamine use has now overtaken alcohol in Australia as “the drug of most concern”.
Older people are also more likely to binge drink. The survey found an increase in the number of people aged over 50 who consume 11 or more standard drinks in a single sitting.
Other statistics to come out of the NDSHS include a spike in the number of people who reported being a victim of a drug-related incident. In 2016 there were 1,800,000 people impacted by a person or persons using drugs. That figure was 200,000 people lower just three years ago. At the same time, the number of victims of alcohol-related incidents fell…from 26% in 2013 to 22% in 2016.
Another article , which appeared in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, describes the inherent danger of the factor that cannabis is the most used illicit drug in Australia. The author, Dr Michelle Taylor, states that teenagers who regularly smoke cannabis are 26 times more likely to move on to harder drugs by the age of 21.
Her study has provided definitive proof that cannabis is a gateway drug to substances like cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. Dr Taylor’s findings came after analysing 5,000 teenagers aged between 13 and 18 of which 20 percent were cannabis users.
Those classed as “occasional smokers” of cannabis still had higher odds of getting hooked on other illegal drugs, smoking cigarettes and drinking excessively.
Dr Taylor kept track of her test group through to when they turned 21 and found that at that age methamphetamine and cocaine were the most common illegal substances they had “graduated” to.
“The most important findings from this study are that one in five adolescents follow a pattern of occasional or regular cannabis use and that those individuals are more likely to be tobacco dependent, have harmful levels of alcohol consumption or use other illicit drugs in early adulthood”, said Dr Taylor.
It beggars belief but it is true. Police are discovering that the age limit on young people using illicit drugs is now less than teenage years. Over the past few weeks they have found people as young as 10 years of age high on Ice.
This is just one of many alarming incidents across the nation…including a mass drug overdose involving a dozen teens at Yeppoon…a grandmother trying to smuggle drugs into a jail…authorities being asked to examine if there is a connection between Islamic extremism and drugs since finding out that Brighton gunman Yacqub Khayre was a drug user from the age of 16…and the revelation that Ice cartels have set up a network across Victorian regional towns.
In other news…WA police launched their biggest ever asset seizure operation following the discovery of $10 million of methamphetamine…
$42,000 worth of high grade cannabis has been seized on a rural property in Queensland…
Police in the Northern Territory found drugs with a street value of $150,000 when they pulled over a vehicle on the Stuart Highway…
A drug taking burglar has been arrested after going back to the scene of his crime – where his image was captured on CCTV cameras – to ask for a cigarette…
Methamphetamine valued at $860,000 have beeN found in a house at Shepparton…
Yacqub Khayre, the Brighton gunman, has been found to have had a serious drug habit since the age of 16…
NSW police have been issued with vans which allow them to take secondary drug tests rather than take drivers back to the station and in the first two weeks of use Deniliquin police have caught 15 drivers…
Two Perth men are facing serious drugs charges after detectives seized methamphetamine and heroin from their vehicle…
WA police have been busy…they have also broken a drug distribution ring after finding $7 million of drugs and $#70,000 in cash…whilst other officers pulled over two cars nearby and found almost 500 grams of methamphetamine in one and 250 grams and cash in the other…
The former partner of AFL star Ben Cousins said he had chosen drugs over everything including her and his children and if he doesn’t pull out of his drug spiral he might die…
A driver who allegedly dragged a police officer along a pavement, whilst racing down the wrong side of a road with his headlights turned off, admitted that he was “off his guts on drugs”…
A grandmother has pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs into a prison in Mackay…
A drug user has pleaded guilty to multiple charges in a Rockhampton court including stealing copper wire from a BHP mine and selling it, as well as driving while disqualified and driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle…
A man arrested by Hunter Valley police for stealing caravans had a stash of methamphetamine and cannabis on his property…
Logan police have raided two properties and found marijuana plants growing in them…
Victorian police say Ice cartels have infiltrated rural communities across the state and regional towns are now the front line on the battle against drugs. Mildura, Wangaratta, Shepparton and Bendigo have been named as Ice hot spots…
A 12 year old girl is amongst seven people arrested over drug offences on the Gold Coast…
Former State Of Origin star player Jarrod Mullen says he is happy to cop the four year ban after being discovered using a banned substance. He said the steroid was given to him by a person he had known for 10 years and who he trusted…
Cassie Sainsbury, the accused cocaine smuggler from Adelaide, claims she thought she was on a money laundering mission to make $10,000 when she became a dug mule…
Police are asking parents to be diligent after being made aware of a popular bracelet that hides a marijuana pipe…
As the month rolls on so too do the drug news stories which demonstrate that all areas of society are being affected by illicit drug use. For example,
A 33 year old man was jailed for stabbing his older brother who was on an ice-fuelled rampage…
The NRL wants to make secret records of illicit drug use available Le to protect clubs from signing players already hit with a first strike…
An accused Ice addict has been charged with neglecting her four month old son who was found in a seriously malnourished condition…
Drug dealers convicted of trafficking commercial quantities are serving as few as four-and-a-half years behind bars, on average, despite the maximum sentence of life being offered to courts…
The WA Government has introduced a Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill which raised the maximum sentence for meth trafficking from 25 years to life imprisonment…
A Bondi model who was also a cocaine runner has been arrested in his Lexus with 40 bags of ‘coke’ hidden in his underwear, 110 bags in a gym bag and 32 bags in a first aid kit…
Drug users on welfare will not be referred to the police but will be offered ‘a more compassionate path’…
A 36 year old woman has been charged with child neglect after her two year old son consumed drugs. She had claimed he drank paint thinner…
Australia has the highest international prices for cocaine which is why Colombian drug cartels are so interested in Australia…
A routine traffic stop at Nerang has resulted in people being arrested on drugs and weapons offences.
1300 DRUGSAFE