Cannabis takes a tragic toll

[Tom]

The destructive impact of cannabis on indigenous communities was rammed home to Coroner Alastair Hope yesterday as he was confronted with more proof of the squalor endured by Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley.

 

A young Aboriginal man living in a remote community in the Fitzroy Valley told Mr Hope he had been admitted to Graylands Hospital twice because of heavy cannabis use. Kelvin Gordon, 26, said many young people in his community of Yiyili, 180km east of Fitzroy Crossing, smoked the drug. He said he had spent a month in Graylands psychiatric hospital but no longer used cannabis.

 

Mr Hope spent the day visiting indigenous communities on the outskirts of Fitzroy Crossing as part of his inquest into more than 20 indigenous deaths in the Kimberley. He told a meeting of about 50 men, women and children at Yiyili that he was there to listen because he was concerned cannabis was making their young people go “crazy” and do “stupid things”. He said he was also worried about alcohol killing them.

 

“I came here so you can tell me what the problems are,” he said.

 

As Mr Hope toured the communities, about 80 residents of Fitzroy Crossing took part in a protest march against a controversial ban on almost all takeaway alcohol from the town’s main pub, the Crossing Inn.

 

During the meeting at Yiyili, where up to 200 people live, locals told Mr Hope that residents were spending all their welfare money on alcohol and cannabis. Aboriginal woman Marjorie Cox told the coroner it was the reason families were left with no food on the table.

 

A murder-suicide just outside the community is part of Mr Hope’s inquest. Residents agreed that alcohol and cannabis were a factor in the tragedy, with one elder, Archie Doherty, telling Mr Hope it “couldn’t be anything else”.

 

Community leader Wayne Gordon told the meeting that government agencies visited the town only when there was a crisis, then they just “walk away from us”.

 

“There’s nothing going for the young people out here,” he said.

 

Mr Hope asked the meeting if it would support a scheme where vouchers or a card were used to buy essentials, including food and clothes to ensure money was not all spent on alcohol.

 

Mr Doherty told him no one would ever be able to stop the alcohol abuse. “They will get some cash somewhere else,” he said.

 

Later in the day, Mr Hope visited the community of Mindi Rardi, which resembled a war zone. It was in the worst state of any of the communities The West Australian has visited with the coroner as part of the inquest.

 

Litter was scattered throughout the community and at the house Mr Hope visited cockroaches crawled over the walls and ran from cupboards. There was no food in the cupboards or the pantry. The kitchen had no fridge and the only furniture in the house was a television on a table.

 

During his tour, Mr Hope was alerted to a broken sewage pump at the back of the community which was causing waste water to soak a large area of the ground. In the distance a group of about 30 people gambled in the dirt. At the front of the house children played happily in the dirt, while old women lay on filthy mattresses drinking soft drink. Other houses looked like cages, with metal grilles around the outside.

 

On Sunday, lawyer John Hammond, who is representing Aboriginal families at the inquest, said the damning and tragic evidence presented so far warranted a royal commission to allow a wider-ranging inquiry.

 

Those involved in yesterday’s Fitzroy Crossing protest said their right to drink was being eroded.

 

Imposed following lobbying by local women fed up with bearing the brunt of alcohol fuelled violence, the six-month ban on the sale of all takeaway alcohol except low-strength beer has divided the town.

 

Chanting “What do we want? Alcohol! When do we want it? Now!” the men, women, children and a few dogs marched down the street from the supermarket to the highway and back.

 

Taxi owner Sharyn Morris said locals’ right to drink peacefully at home was being eroded. “I recognise there is a problem,” Ms Morris said. “But educating people how to live correctly should fix it.”

 

Local pilot David Rundle said midstrength beer ought to be allowed.

 

Bobby Dededar and his friends said the low-strength beer made them sick. “No, there’s not really a problem,” he said of drinking in the town.

 

 

Author: JESSICA STRUTT

Date: 10th October 2007

Source: www.thewest.com.au

Copyright: West Australian Newspapers Limited 2007.

 

The headlines are about cannabis but anyone with half a brain can see that the only real problem is alcohol, the West Australian is really starting to show its stupid prejudices now, this story should really have been about alcohol but as they have several full page advertisements and many smaller ones for alcohol in their paper every day they probably don't want to upset the advertisers and risk losing their money.

Mr Hope spent the day visiting indigenous communities on the outskirts of Fitzroy Crossing as part of his inquest into more than 20 indigenous deaths in the Kimberley. He told a meeting of about 50 men, women and children at Yiyili that he was there to listen because he was concerned cannabis was making their young people go “crazy” and do “stupid things”. He said he was also worried about alcohol killing them.

He's concerned about cannabis making people do dumb things then his worries about a legal drug that actually kills people are added as an afterthought, I severely doubt that his investigations are going to turn up anything really useful for these remote communities.

 

A young Aboriginal man living in a remote community in the Fitzroy Valley told Mr Hope he had been admitted to Graylands Hospital twice because of heavy cannabis use. Kelvin Gordon, 26, said many young people in his community of Yiyili, 180km east of Fitzroy Crossing, smoked the drug. He said he had spent a month in Graylands psychiatric hospital but no longer used cannabis.

One weak willed person needed help to get off the weed so it makes headlines, 80 alcoholics stage a protest for their drug of addiction in the main street and that gets buried in the middle of the story.

 

[SukonmiSkunk]

A murder-suicide just outside the community is part of Mr Hope's inquest. Residents agreed that alcohol and cannabis were a factor in the tragedy, with one elder, Archie Doherty, telling Mr Hope it "couldn't be anything else".

 

yep.. what else could it possibly be...

[Pure]

Just more bullshit spat out , and what a fine upstanding example of folk

 

In the same regions have HUGE issues with

 

Petrol Sniffing

Alchoholism

Meth

Rape

Marital abuse

 

ect , so to try and pin something on the most harmless of them all cannabis is simply clinching at straws.

 

He told a meeting of about 50 men, women and children at Yiyili that he was there to listen because he was concerned cannabis was making their young people go “crazy” and do “stupid things”. He said he was also worried about alcohol killing them.

 

Who would have thought after all this time it was the cannabis .... Not the lack of respect for themselfs or their common man , Not the fact that a good % of them suffer from serious alchohol issues from a very early age , Not the fact that parents are out there filling up empty bottles with petrol to sniff setting a prime example for future generations.

 

It's comments like the one quoted above that really piss me off cause they simply just use the same statement for whatever the fuck the story is in that area. Fact is you can take all the pot out of australia and it still ain't gonna solve the issues with societies breakdown it will simply increase the amount doing worse things.

[Frazz]

Aborigines have nothing to do with their time ... they are supplied with fully furnished house, land , and a fortnightly pay packet but nothing constructive to do with thier time or nothing to strive for cause they are the biggest beneficiaries of welfare hand outs and that is the government's doing ... they seemed to do alright before whitey arrived and started laying the law down ...

 

but how can you expect a primitive race who still lived in the stone age up till 200 yrs ago and expect to fast forward them to the industrial age in such a short time , it took whitey thousands of years to evolve from the stone age, no wonder they are completely lost and spinning out on alcohol and drugs etc ...

 

[dsyfer]

Aborigines have nothing to do with their time ... they are supplied with fully furnished house, land , and a fortnightly pay packet but nothing constructive to do with thier time or nothing to strive for cause they are the biggest beneficiaries of welfare hand outs and that is the government's doing ... they seemed to do alright before whitey arrived and started laying the law down ...

 

but how can you expect a primitive race who still lived in the stone age up till 200 yrs ago and expect to fast forward them to the industrial age in such a short time , it took whitey thousands of years to evolve from the stone age, no wonder they are completely lost and spinning out on alcohol and drugs etc ...

 

exactly..

 

most if not all primitive cultures that have been "settled" have almost identical social problems, and discrimination problems.

 

Unfortunately even in this day and age it is still too easy to say "it's not me, it's you".

[pipeman]

I don't think the problem is genetic. People are a product of their environment. Many aboriginals who have been brought up in middle class white families have not only had no problem living a productive life in Western society but are actually somewhat resentful of their skin colour.

[torture]

its definately not genetic... i definately agree with that pipeman

 

and before i start ranting please understand im not a racist... i really do hate everybody equally

 

Let me see... they live in these small rural communities... with no jobs available... no healthcare... no education... but lets just blame alcohol and cannabis because we are all to lazy to come up with a real solution

 

Don't get me wrong... i know how big an impact alcohol and other drugs have on these communities, but at the end of the day they are only contributing factors... not the root factors.

 

The government keeps pumping money into these communites and its just wasted in the masses for the most part, but the government will just keep on doing it to keep the general public happy.

 

I also definately agree that people are a product of their environment. But thats a 2 pronged problem, because for the large part aboriginals in the communities are either incapable, too lazy or completely unwilling to try and change that environment and then the government just keeps pumping in the funds regardless. I know if the government was giving my community funds for sitting around drinking piss, using drugs and not having to goto school or work that we would all be sitting around doing fuck all getting fucked up all day everyday.

 

We need set them up with everything they need to earn and create themselves a living. Plus some better education and training and then walk away and stop the hand outs. That way the onus is then on themselves to clean their act up, and we can all stop feeling guilty for something that most people would rather ignore than fix.

[Frazz]

the terms i use in this topic are no way intended to be derogatory but i apologise if anyone is offended ... as a general rule i love and respect aboriginal people

 

its definately not genetic... i definately agree with that pipeman

 

We need set them up with everything they need to earn and create themselves a living. Plus some better education and training and then walk away and stop the hand outs. That way the onus is then on themselves to clean their act up, and we can all stop feeling guilty for something that most people would rather ignore than fix.

 

This 'setting them up with everything they need' has been done numerous times in the past, yet most, if not all projects have never acheived financial viability ...

 

the anglo-aboriginal may be quite at home in a productive surburbian existence .. no doubt about it, but they are the minority and really of a quite different makeup to the Fitzroy Crossing tribe ...

 

Fitzroy crossing Aboriginals are for the most part, so much closer to full-blood indigenous Aboriginals that they are completely lost in a 'productive 9-5 existence' ... they are stone age hunters and gatherers plain and simple ..

 

 

 

[grok]

i believe they lack a dream...a dream of what they want to achieve as individuals as well as a people...due to this lack of a dream they tend to simply blame white fellas..cause its always easier to blame someone else rather than admit to yourself that you have a problem..its called Denial...and the anger and resentment they feel is internalised..causing emotional pain...this emotional pain is dealt with(self medicated) by a plethora of drugs...paticularly alcohol drinking and petrol sniffing.....the problem with this form of medicine is its detrimental side effects.pause.

 

i used to hang out with black fellas and get pissed on goon in my younger years..its nice sitting outside under a tree boozing up...for a while anyway..excessive use of any mind altering substances can cause problems of various degrees...and in my experience cannabis use is relatively low among black fellas..

 

...their main problems/challenges/opportunities as i see it is they lack a dream....they need to go to the dreamtime and pull forward in time a dream for their race and their future...when they have a dream to look forward to creating/manifesting this will give them a greater sense of self worth..something they seriously lack at the moment...

 

the average aussie white fellas perception of Abo's (short for aborigine--non derogative) in my opinion goes something like this...yeah yeah our ancestors may have hurt your ancestors...but so what?....you get free houses, free cars, free money....etc....man i wish i was 1/16 black fella so i could get all that free stuff!!...they are jealous of it...and resentful...and pissed off at the govt giving away their tax dollars in this fashion...they also dont like the way they smell due to a lack of personal hygiene/showers and consumption of meat/alcohol/ciggarettes. they also resent it when a koori plays the "race card" and cries "poor me"..i am so hard done by..whine whine.whinge whinge..sook sook!!.....as far as compassion for blacks go..its quite lacking...however you cant force/tell people to have empathy!!..that is a spiritual quality that tends to develop as a person matures...i believe the average non abo aussie wishes that they would 'get over it'(anger at white fellas) grow up and start dealing with reality..(i certainly feel it is time for them to do so..however..they dont feel that way yet..)..never be afraid of the truth..the truth will consume non-truth..it does take a lot of courage/power/balls to speak/live your truth however....remember!!..the truth shall set you free!!.. free?...yeah..free to be yourself..and if others dont like that..well fuck 'em...they can deal with it or fuck off..

 

 

a lot of what i say in this thread could probably be applied to other people..in this country..and overseas..

 

..and yeah its quite normal for newspapers to distort reality to suit their agenga which is set by..???..(insert conspiracy theory here!!) i have no patience with newspapers..which is why i gave up reading them...i get my news from the internet..

 

in my experience of reality cannabis is a relatively harmless form of medication for emotional problems...i would like to see the aboriginal elders encourage the use of cannabis(more cannabis use would mean less alcohol use/abuse)..it can be used spiritually as well to help them re-enter the dreamtime and create a reality for themselves that would give them a greater degree of value fulfillment...and anything that benefits other humans will in the long run..also benefit me/you our families..our descendants..our ancestors...our people....for in the end..we are one people...we are human people...

 

.... love, and power to YOU

[torture]

This 'setting them up with everything they need' has been done numerous times in the past, yet most, if not all projects have never acheived financial viability ...

 

the anglo-aboriginal may be quite at home in a productive surburbian existence .. no doubt about it, but they are the minority and really of a quite different makeup to the Fitzroy Crossing tribe ...

 

Fitzroy crossing Aboriginals are for the most part, so much closer to full-blood indigenous Aboriginals that they are completely lost in a 'productive 9-5 existence' ... they are stone age hunters and gatherers plain and simple ..

 

That is pretty much all correct, however my point is the government just dumps funds in there and fucks off pretty much. They are hunters and gatherers... but setting up farms, fisheries etc for them to work in and support themselves wouldnt really be that hard would it. It doesnt need to be 9-5, but it does need to be practical and easy enough for them to get the self confidence they need.

 

I talk about farms etc mostly because i know quite a few aboriginal lads that have worked on cattle stations... and they would pretty close to full blood, and its remarkable what they achieved with a little encouragement and support and patience.

 

There probably are some programs out there running similar to this, but my point is for the most part they are unsupervised, and in control of the cash, which for the most part seems to disappear into thin air!

 

As for the cannabis problem... well alcohol and cannabis usually dont mix to well together, especially for the younger generation.

 

thats my 2 cents anyways