Pubdate: Sun, 09 Sep 2007
Source: Sunday Mail (Australia)
Contact: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/editorial/letter
Copyright: 2007 Queensland Newspapers
Website: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/sundaymail
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/435
Author: Edmund Burke
Cited: Queensland Injectors Health Network http://www.quihn.org.au
Cited: Tough on Drugs campaign 
http://www.drugs.health.gov.au/internet/drugs/publishing.nsf/Content/home
Referenced: Queensland Drug Strategy 2006-2010 
http://www.health.qld.gov.au/atods/documents/31976.pdf
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

TIME FOR A REALITY CHECK

"SARAH" sometimes likes to do a line of cocaine with friends after a 
nice glass of red wine. Occasionally the 28-year-old Brisbane-based 
university lecturer will drop some ecstasy.

She has tried ice, but says she didn't like it. She has dabbled in 
heroin, and now and again she'll smoke some weed. She doesn't view 
her occasional drug use as a problem - she says she doesn't see it as 
anybody's business but her own - and she has absolutely no intention 
of stopping.

"It's just something I do. It is part of my life, but it's not a big 
deal," says the attractive, dark-haired woman.

"I sometimes like to take a pill or do some speed if I am going to go out.

"To be honest, as I've got older, alcohol makes me kind of tired.

"I'd rather do a line of speed instead. A lot of my friends feel the 
same way as I do. One girl is a scientist, there's an architect, 
graphic designer, teachers and," she laughs, "journalists, for sure."

Sarah is a successful academic, who by most people's standards seems 
to have her life in good order.

She doesn't suffer from depression and she isn't bipolar. She says 
she doesn't have a mental illness or emotional problems. She doesn't 
fit into the stereotype of a drug user but the confronting fact is, 
experts say, that most drug users in Queensland and the rest of 
Australia don't.

"Andrew" is in his 40s but his hobby of bodybuilding makes him look 
much younger. Yet the Brisbane primary school teacher occasionally 
uses speed and ecstasy. "It knocks you around sometimes but I feel 
far worse after a big weekend on bourbon and Coke, the normal kind of 
Coke. Alcohol affects my training far more," he says.

"I'd lose my job if they (his school) found out and the truth is I 
have missed a few Monday mornings. But how many of us can say we 
haven't called in sick after a big night out?"

There are very few studies into "white collar" drug use in Australia. 
Researchers say it is difficult to gather information in surveys 
because there is no value in responding to it for the professional 
who doesn't feel he or she has a problem. But most experts agree 
there are many "recreational" drug users in Australia who manage 
their habit, do not develop any serious health problems and continue 
to be useful members of society.

The confession by rugby league star Andrew Johns that he regularly 
used "party drugs" throughout his 12-year NRL career shocked people 
who struggled to understand how a professional athlete could be a 
"druggie" and still function at the highest physical level. Johns, 
regarded by many as a great player, admitted to more than a decade of 
recreational drug use after London police caught him with an ecstasy tablet.

The recent controversy in Melbourne with Channel 7 seeking to report 
on the stolen medical records of two AFL players would seem to 
confirm that "party drug" use among athletes is widespread.

Last week a defensive Brisbane Broncos NRL coach Wayne Bennett said 
sports people were unfairly held to standards not expected of the 
rest of the community.

"If you are a doctor or solicitor or politician or whatever, no one 
else gets paraded like our people do," he told The Sunday Mail.

"That's a real downside to me personally. The problem is society's 
problem, it's not our problem. We are doing something about it. That 
makes us absolutely stand out."

Bennett's comments may have been dismissed as a typical closing of 
NRL ranks. But does the normally tightlipped coach have a valid point?

Many social scientists and drug counsellors believe the time has come 
to present to the public a more realistic view of drug use.

Geoff Manu is manager of the Queensland Injectors Health Network 
(QuIHN), a government-funded facility to provide information and 
services on illicit drug use within a harm-reduction philosophy.

"The majority of people we see here do not fit the stereotypical view 
of a drug user. We don't ask people about their backgrounds because 
that is not what we are about here," he says.

"But we see people pull up in good cars and be neatly dressed. 
Well-spoken, intelligent people who obviously have jobs and lives 
beyond their drug use.

"Substance abuse can create havoc, but it is different for every 
person. Everyone who picks up a drink doesn't become an alcoholic, 
and to a certain extent drug use is the same."

QuIHN is working on an advertising campaign which will feature a 
poster with pictures of 100 people and the tagline: "Pick the Drug User."

"Sometimes I can't even tell if someone is a drug user or not," Manu says.

"The stereotype of a user is someone whose life is out of control but 
the truth is they are probably in the minority.

"We don't condone or condemn drug use but there are recreational 
users. People will make their own choices and we need to be 
presenting a more balanced view so at least it can be an informed one."

NE police officer who worked in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley 
entertainment precinct said drug use was much more widespread than 
many people realised.

"With some of the clubs there might be a queue of 100 people and 99 
of them will be on something," he said.

"People with good jobs, law students from good families, all types of people.

"If he's from Woodridge he might be smoking ice, if he's a 
middle-class student from Paddington he's probably on ecstasy. But 
they're all on something."

The police officer admitted that some drug users, particularly those 
on marijuana or ecstasy, were often less trouble than alcohol or 
amphetamine abusers.

"But as far as we are concerned, we'll be policing them in 10 years' 
time when they develop depression and bipolar disorders," he said.

The State Government's Queensland Drug Strategy 2006-2010 contains 
some uncomfortable facts for those who argue drug use is inherently 
"wrong" while alcohol and tobacco use are acceptable.

"Despite the widely held perception that drug-related problems are 
mainly caused by the use of illicit drugs, tobacco and alcohol are 
responsible for the most harm associated with drugs in our 
community," reads the report.

In Queensland, it is estimated that tobacco smoking and alcohol 
consumption account for 93 per cent of all drug-related deaths and illnesses.

Each year an estimated 812 deaths and 20,900 hospital admissions are 
due to alcohol misuse, while an estimated 90 deaths and 4100 hospital 
admissions in Queensland are due to illicit drug use.

Of course there are more alcohol users than illicit drug users but, 
statistically at least, alcohol is still more dangerous than other drugs.

Government figures show about 80 per cent of Queenslanders drink 
alcohol, while at least 12 per cent use drugs of some description.

That means about seven times more people drink than take drugs, but 
about nine times as many deaths are attributed to alcohol than to 
illicit drug use.

It is this apparent hypocrisy in our attitude to drugs and alcohol 
which is often seized upon by young drug users.

"James" is a 22-year-old final-year science student who intends to 
study for his medical degree following a gap year overseas.

He is strikingly articulate and comes from a wealthy and close-knit 
Queensland family.

During his years as a student at the University of Queensland, he 
says, he smoked marijuana almost every day, often took ecstasy, tried 
cocaine and smoked ice on two occasions.

"Ice is maybe a bit different. I could tell that could be really 
addictive but the only one that I ever felt was getting a bit out of 
control was the weed," he says.

"That was affecting my personal relationships but I smoked for years 
and I never had any problems with my grades.

"I would wait until after dinner before I started smoking and try to 
get all my work done during the day."

The young man says a shocking amount of his peers shared his attitude to drugs.

"I would say that a third to a half of the people I studied with took 
drugs. Nobody sees it as a big deal," he said.

"It is the same as drinking. Alcohol is probably worse than most of 
the stuff I have tried. Nobody wants to be around a sloppy drunk."

James says ecstasy tablets are getting cheaper, from about $40 a pill 
two years ago, to about $25 to $30 now.

"Cocaine is expensive, around $300 a gram and you could easily go 
through half a gram in a night. That's a big night . . . a treat," he says.

Marijuana, or weed, is bought in "sticks", which are a 16th of an 
ounce, for $25 and a heavy smoker might use two sticks in a night.

"I never bought ice . . . I don't really know how much that is," says 
James, who adds that drugs are normally bought from friends or acquaintances.

The young man admits his marijuana smoking did start to worry him 
this year and says he stopped using the drug about two months ago.

But he is critical of campaigns to stop young people using drugs and 
says most of his peers regard government advertising with derision.

"They tell you that if you take ecstasy there is a danger that you 
are going to overheat in a club and die. But you look around you and 
you see people taking it every week and they are not dying," he says.

"They try to scare you into not trying stuff but you just end up not 
believing any of the things they tell you."

Paul Dillon, of Drug and Alcohol Research Training Australia, says a 
Federal Government television campaign last year, which targeted 
marijuana, amphetamines and ecstasy, had mixed results.

"The ads for marijuana and amphetamines had a relatively moderate 
message. They warned that the drugs can affect different people in 
different ways," he said.

"There was some really positive feedback for them, but the ads for 
ecstasy showed a young girl collapsing in a club and dying and there 
was some really negative feedback from that."

Dillon accepts that the Government must walk a tightrope between 
deterrence and credible information in its education programs.

But he warns that many of the conventional scare tactics in the war 
against drugs are being rejected by young people.

"If the Government continues to project a message that is not seen as 
credible that could do more harm than good," he says.

"There are some really serious potential consequences of drug use and 
we need to get that message out in a way that is going to be accepted."

Dr James Rowe is a lecturer at the School of Global Studies, Social 
Science and Planning, at RMIT University Melbourne.

He gained his doctorate while he was a heroin user (something he says 
he has now ceased) and has sharply criticised government drug 
campaigns in the past.

"You see these exaggerated representations based on a few individual 
cases and what it does is rob them of their credibility," he says.

"There are many people for whom drug use becomes a problem and I was 
one of them. But there are many for whom drug use doesn't become a 
lifelong habit or addiction.

"I would never encourage anyone to use an illicit drug because there 
is that risk that there is a price that you will have to pay, but we 
need to present a more balanced view."

The Howard Government has recently launched its Tough on Drugs 
campaign and a booklet titled Talking With Your Kids About Drugs was 
distributed to thousands of Queensland homes this week.

The publication, with an accompanying television advertising 
campaign, has received some tentative support from academics.

Rowe has praised the scheme for its focus on honest communication 
between parents and their children.

"There is a line on Page 5 of that booklet that says when parents 
talk to their children they should not exaggerate or make false 
claims because if they do their children will not accept their 
advice," he says. "That is a lesson the Government would do well to 
listen to itself."

There is no doubt drug use can lead to serious physical and mental 
health problems. AMA Queensland president Dr Ross Cartmill warned 
drug users that they may be harming their health despite feeling they 
are in control of their drug use.

"All of the evidence shows that people steadily increase dosage to 
get the same effect. People may think they are managing their usage 
but it is the insidious nature of drugs that is their most dangerous 
aspect," Cartmill said.

"The first problems that people experience will be in their brain - 
mood swings, depression - we don't even fully understand all of them yet.

"The second organ that will be affected is the liver. The liver has 
to process all the toxins and the stress on the liver will depend on 
how many toxins it has to process.

"There is also the fact that we don't know what a lot of these drugs 
will do over time because they haven't been around long enough. It 
seems likely that people are storing up problems for themselves that 
we don't yet know about."

But "Sarah" says these are risks she is willing to take.

"I know some people crack up on drugs, but to be honest I think those 
cracks were there already," she says.

"We've all heard horror stories. We've seen the headlines about evil 
drugs and, as far as most of us are concerned, it's just a lopsided 
representation that hardly anyone believes." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake