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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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I turned up for work and wondered where my business partner was. Several hours later I discovered why he didn’t appear. He had been found dead in an alley way at Kings Cross with a needle still in his arm. He had died of a heroin overdose.
I had no idea that he had a drug addiction. We had been working together for 15 years. How was it that he had managed to keep it a secret from me?
The shock of this tragic discovery worsened when I found out he had been fiddling the books in order to pay for his habit. He had taken more than $300,000 from the company account.
No matter how well you think you know someone…you don’t.
The story on the left is not just any story. It is the story of Drug-Safe’s founder Michael White. The events destroyed his then-business. It was the reason he created Drug-Safe Australia and made it his mission to help companies like yours avoid similar tragedies.
One person, one incident could ruin your business forever. Not to mention the lives impacted of employees, families and depending on the incident even random members of the public.
It is our mission to help you avoid such tragic incidents from impacting or destroying your company. Our professional staff members will work with you to determine the best approach in protecting your employees.
From drug testing policy development, staff drug safety education, drug and alcohol testing and drug-safe workplace certification – our services are
Call us today for a confidential conversation and discover how we can help you!
Whether you are in a capital city or in the remote parts of Australia. With our fleet of mobile drug testing units and locations across Australia, we can cover most of the continent.
1300 DRUGSAFE