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.
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.
The Royal Australian Navy has been very busy over the past three years as a member of the 31-nation Combined Maritime Forces group patrolling the oceans west and north of Australia.
HMAS Arunta recently arrived home after a long time at sea during which time its crew discovered and seized 570 kilograms of heroin and 800 kilograms of hashish.
The street value of these discoveries is more than $200,000,000.
At the same time, the whole CMF fleet, which is operated from its headquarters in Bahrain, has found a staggering 4,600 kilograms of heroin and 6,300 kilograms of hashish with a value of $2.6 billion.
Our thanks to the RAN for preventing these drugs from reaching our shores.
Three million hits of the drug Ice have been taken off our streets following a successful raid by Border Force officials.
They discovered 370 kilograms of ephedrine secreted in sea cargo and the ‘find’ has led to two arrests so far.
A former manager of premiership winning AFL players will go on trial after allegedly being caught with $1 million worth of Ice during a routine traffic stop.
Gold Coast police have discovered nearly $750,000 worth of drugs and a shotgun after raiding homes of ex-bikie gang members.The drugs included methamphetamines, MDMA, cannabis and prescription drugs.
Police have found $35,000 in cash and drugs in a four wheel drive vehicle after it left the Castlereagh Highway and flipped several times. The occupants escaped with minor injuries.
A fight between two friends over heroin has need with one of them fighting for his life in hospital with stab wounds to the abdomen.
A Crime And Corruption Commission audit of hospitals has found 66 per cent of thefts related to missing drugs.
The State Opposition in Victoria is calling Premier Andrews’ Ice Action Plan a $184 million dud.
A routine search of a vehicle near Goulburn has resulted in police charging the 23 and 35 year old occupants with drug supply.
Six people are in hospital after taking the synthetic drug GHB at a night club in Melbourne.
Children as young as 10 are being found high on drugs and in possession of Ice in Victoria.
A country doctor who prescribed opioids and other addictive drugs to heroin addicts has faced the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
A pilot program using incentives to combat the Ice epidemic in Newcastle is having a positive impact.
Kalgoorlie is the meth capital of WA. Methamphetamine use in that city is now 14.4 per cent higher than the previous ‘capital’ of Bunbury.
An 18 year old who tried to sell bags of fake cocaine has faced court.
The ex-chief executive of a West Australian organisation helping drug users has been found guilty of supplying heroin.
Pain drugs and vaccines have been stolen from veterinary clinics in Perth. They are not for human use and could be harmful.
A paramedic has been punched in the face by a 14 year old boy he was trying to treat. The boy appeared to be affected by drugs.
Police in the Pilbara have seized $127,500 worth of drugs including methamphetamine, ecstasy, MDMA.
Desperate drug addicts are raising rubbish bins at Gold Coast retirement villages in a hint for pain relief patches to lick. Even used patches are potent enough to produce a ‘high’. They cost $2.50 on a prescription but are being onsold for $90-100 each.
Melbourne police and emergency services say they are battling a new wave of drug use of the notorious party drug, GHB.
Three Australians face life in prison over a pan to smuggle $255 million worth of Ice from California to Victoria in a light plane.
A Mackay court judge said there are so many people facing drugs charges that it is like a “conga line of drug dealers” coming through the court.
Canberra police seized 29 parcels in one week containing drugs which had been mailed to local addresses.
A Brisbane night club lobbyist who spoke out against the state government’s lockout laws has been allegedly caught in possession of cocaine.
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…
Australia is setting new records for all the wrong reasons…with the largest amount of methamphetamines ever seized by police. The 903 kilogram haul has a street value of close to $1 billion.
Police found the drugs hidden inside 70 boxes of wooden floorboards. They had come into the country from Asia via Melbourne port and were stored in a Melbourne warehouse.
At the same time, a huge task force of more than 200 officers raided 28 properties across Sydney and in Canberra and discovered the largest amount of ephedrine ever found.
The 1.4 tonne haul had a street value of $650 million. It was brought into the country in containers labelled as sea salt. Ephedrine is used to make the drug “Ice”.
Police also found $2 million in cash in the record-breaking bust. They allege that the Rebels bikie gang and an Asian organised crime group are behind the drug importing operation.
1300 DRUGSAFE