Drug crime rampant

[Tom]

MELBOURNE has one of the highest rates of drug-induced crime in the nation.

 

Drug tests on police station detainees found three-quarters were affected by drugs including ice, heroin, ecstasy and cannabis.

 

One third of Melbourne watchhouse detainees were affected by heroin -- a greater rate than anywhere else.

 

The results, from a survey of 4555 detainees across the country, reveal potent links between drug use and crime.

 

The Australian Institute of Criminology report also found abuse of the amphetamine ice had stabilised, but not fallen, after years of rising use.

 

Ice, or crystal meth, has been blamed for rising violent crime and mental health problems.

 

It has snared many, including West Coast footballer Ben Cousins and rocker Phil Jamieson, from band Grinspoon.

 

The report also found:

 

DETAINEES aged under 30 are the heaviest users of amphetamines, with ice the main type.

 

A THIRD of detainees reported crimes committed in the previous 12 months were related to amphetamine use.

 

ALMOST half of those in police custody had less than 10 years formal schooling and almost two-thirds relied on government benefits for income.

 

DRUG-AFFECTED detainees were as likely to be charged with property or violent crimes as drug offences.

 

Cannabis was the most common drug, affecting more than half of detainees. And almost a quarter tested positive to amphetamines such as speed and ice.

 

Tranquillisers, then heroin, ecstasy and cocaine were the next most common drugs used by detainees.

 

The figures were derived from interviews and urine tests of detainees in all states and territories, except Tasmania.

 

Melbourne results were based on testing of detainees at Sunshine and Footscray stations.

 

They found three-quarters of detainees got their income from welfare and a third relied on money from family and friends.

 

Less than a quarter had a full-time job, 12 per cent relied on drugs to make money, 11 per cent on shoplifting and 13 per cent on "other income-generating crime".

 

Author: Liam Houlihan

Date: July 22, 2007

Source: Herald and Weekly Times.

Copyright: © Herald and Weekly Times.

 

Cannabis was the most common drug, affecting more than half of detainees.

So what crimes were they in for? How many were in for alcohol related crimes?

 

[Al B. Fuct]

As if alcohol isn't a drug! Arrests involving alcohol would surely be 10x those for cannabis.

 

News stories like this do nothing but support the urban myth that all drug users are necessarily dole bludgers and thieves... a very dated idea. Most recreational drug users are indeed well employed and quite functional.

 

This is "news" in the 21st century- take a police or govt press release, give it a 10 second rewrite (if that) and publish it- no research or questioning of the 'facts' provided by police seems required, just pound out some gibberish to fill the column inches. Especially true for Murdoch's Noise Ltd papers (of which the Herald and Weekly Times is one), who just love to wowser on drug issues in a way that will have your nana cheering.

[bufo marinus]

This is "news" in the 21st century- take a police or govt press release, give it a 10 second rewrite (if that) and publish it- no research or questioning of the 'facts' provided by police seems required, just pound out some gibberish to fill the column inches. Especially true for Murdoch's Noise Ltd papers (of which the Herald and Weekly Times is one), who just love to wowser on drug issues in a way that will have your nana cheering.

 

Funny shit Al, sad but true

[Al B. Fuct]

bufo, when I was a newsie some 20err... 25... errr. a lot of years ago, we used to deride the practise of airing wire service copy verbatim with the diminutive term "rip-n-read," as in 'rip it off the wire service printer and read it on air as you find it.' Wire copy was renowned for poor syntax and typos, not really intended for on-air copy; facts were checked but in the days of teletype printers, before word processors and computers, you could not easily correct a typo or re-word something once you typed it on the sending end.

 

However, not even the slackest newsie would ever have considered reading a govt or police press release word for word, especially in an election season.

 

How times change... *sigh*

[Tom]

How times change... *sigh*

Yeah, the only television news I watch now is either the ABC or SBS, I'm not claiming them to be unbiased, just nowhere near as biased and sensationalist as the commercially owned channels.

 

[Budman2012]

Can't really disagree with any of that .. Agreed the media is at fault aswell .. but surely they are more just a puppet for the powers that be ..

(As a side note I agree that ABC and SBS are probably less biased than others , but I've always maintained that channel 10 (TEN) is pretty good with their news and other media .. they seem to just report rather than suggest opinions (most of the time) .. plus check for the DK (Dead Kennedys) symbol in their logo heheh It's there , just as the Globe logo stops turning) .. (hmm , actually I'm not 100%positive they still have that logo , but I think they do) ..

, Holy shit I can ramble ..

 

Anyhoo .. I spose this type of story isn't anything new .. and to me its just more stereotypically slanderous Bullshit .. It's not even about the drugs .. as usual they are basically word-bashing the lower classes .. the poor and the abused and the oppressed etc .. along with all innocent normal drug takers ..

And yet again , Alcohol isn't classed in their "Drug" categories as was mentioned .. .. and again Cannabis is compared to Amphetamines FFS , What a Joke! ...

 

How entirely wrong they have it decided .. It's so fucking frustrating sometimes ..

Society and Politics are just so fucking Wrong! these days ... Sometimes I feel like Exploding!

Meh , I'm so conflicted ..

 

Heheh O.k. , Cheerz all ... Keep fighting the good fight O.k.

 

Budman ... Out!

[Al B. Fuct]

ABC & SBS are the best news ops in Australia, though SBS News seriously lost some credibility points when the Howard jackasses forced SBS to run advertising. Anytime a broadcaster takes advertising, their news reportage can be suspect, particularly when the subject concerns one of the sponsors.

 

Fairfax was a great news org for a lot of years but are slipping fast, particularly after a recent workforce restructure designed to force staff do double-duty, writing for both The Age and the SMH. The newsies walked out for a day but I don't think it made any difference to unFairfax.

 

Seven & Nine news are reprehensibly bad, pure govt mouthpieces. Ten barely HAS a news dept. No newsroom staffers out of hours or on weekends. Mostly wire copy and a very few self-sourced stories on Ten. Ten's news editorial practises also tend toward the govt line, though not quite as blatantly as 7 & 9.

 

I sometimes wish I'd never worked as a newsie... I see every fault in news reportage.

 

When you have been educated as a journalist, the very first things they teach you are about journalistic ethics and how to balance a news story. A newsie who ignores journalistic ethics is called a Public Relations Consultant- and there's lots of journos who have gone over to 'the dark side' as it were.

 

Anyone who doesn't appreciate their ABC apparently doesn't know just how rare a fully funded broadcaster (with an effective arms-length arrangement with those in charge of funding) really is. The Howard stacking of the ABC board with his radical-right cronies was the most serious assault on ABC's credibility in 75 years... There are fewer than 10 fully-funded national broadcasters worldwide. Your ABC is rare as chicken lips. Learn to love it if you don't- and fight for it when it's threatened!

 

That Howard's ABC Board shills, Windschuttle, Brunton and Albrechtsen forced the airing of "The Great Global Warming Swindle" was pure farce, but the ABC staffers did themselves proud by organising a live discussion after GGWS aired, effectively debunking the lies in the film. The ABC Board can try their damnedest to bend the ABC, but the staffers won't have a bar of it.

[onthejob]

MELBOURNE has one of the highest rates of drug-induced crime in the nation.

 

Melbourne results were based on testing of detainees at Sunshine and Footscray stations.

 

 

i think these results aren't really representative of melbourne in general. firstly footscray is a working class suburb with high unemployment that is known as a centre for scoring heroin. therefore the results for drug use is highly likely to be higher than would be the norm at most police stations. sunshine is at the lower end of the socio-economic scale also with high unemployment. so the figures regarding the educational levels of detainees in these two districts comes as no surprise to me.

 

just a few points here but these two suburbs are not your typical middle class melbourne suburbs. i would reckon that if the same questions were applied to detainees in say brighton and black rock (upper middle class suburbs) or glenhuntly and carnegie (lower middle class to middle class) the results would be vastly different. to base findings on an entire city taken from the aforementioned working class suburbs with known high crime rates and drug use is misleading to the max. spurious reporting at best.