The war on drugs is being won

[grace]

It didn't take long for the usual suspects to blame police for the death of a 17-year-old girl from a drug overdose at the Big Day Out in Perth last weekend.

 

Friends of Gemma Thoms have claimed she swallowed three ecstasy tablets to avoid police sniffer dogs, and the Greens MLC Sylvia Hale told reporters police should not be "prompting [young people] into activities that you know are going to be dangerous and pose a real risk to their health".

 

Tony Trimingham, who founded the lobby group Family Drug Support after his son died from a heroin overdose, said: "Probably, if the sniffer dogs hadn't been there that girl wouldn't have died."

 

Police reacted angrily, saying they seized 145 amphetamine tablets at the concert, which may have prevented other overdoses.

 

The tragedy has brought out the logical inconsistencies of some of Australia's most celebrated harm minimisers. Trimingham, for instance, on ABC radio this week to promote his new book, Not My Family, Never My Child, declared he didn't believe in the Federal Government's 12-year-old "Tough on Drugs" strategy, which has successfully slashed drug use among young people. Yet he admitted the prevention, education and treatment elements integral to the strategy had been successful.

 

Promoting his own new book, Paul Dillon, who runs a private drugs education company, said Thoms's death, "brings into question the whole idea of sniffer dogs … I believe we're in the most conservative period that we have seen in my working life. We didn't have sniffer dogs and roadside testing five years ago."

 

And yet, moments later he declared: "Our illicit drug use is plummeting. Cannabis use has halved …"

 

Surely this is evidence the Tough on Drugs strategy has turned around decades of rising drug use. The Australian Secondary School Students' Use of Alcohol and Drug Survey shows a significant decline in the use of all illicit drugs, from 18 per cent in 1996 to 8 per cent in 2005, with cannabis the biggest loser, reflecting increased public awareness of its potential for triggering mental illness.

 

To his credit, Dillon makes this point in Teenagers, Alcohol And Drugs, which contains useful strategies for parents. He appears to have mellowed over the years, perhaps tailoring his message to what parents have come to expect, in light of research showing the ill effects of drugs on teenagers' developing brains.

 

Contrary to popular belief, "most young people have never tried illegal drugs," he writes. "They have no interest in these substances and they never will." If they experiment, most will do so in their 20s.

 

Dillon does not believe more young people are drinking to excess, "although it is quite clear that heavy-drinking teenagers are consuming at much riskier levels and at a younger age".

 

By maintaining a positive relationship with their adolescents - by saying no and setting boundaries, not by being a best friend - parents can have "a greater influence than their kids' peer groups in many cases".

 

And he urges parents to warn their children about the legal consequences of using drugs. "New policing strategies … have resulted in more young people … being prosecuted for drug offences. Let your child know how being caught using drugs will affect the rest of their life." In other words, tough policing is a deterrent.

 

Dillon describes the "incredible change in attitude" towards cannabis he has observed in 25 years working in drug education. No longer is it regarded as "cool" but as a "loser's drug".

 

Ecstasy is the one drug whose use has not been declining, being "perceived by many young people as a fairly benign drug". Deaths from ecstasy are rare, he says, but they do occur, as we saw last weekend. Like any drug, ecstasy can attack weakness in the user, prompting fits, strokes and heart attacks in seemingly healthy people. Ketamine and LSD have also been found in some ecstasy tablets. Methamphetamine use, too, is declining, but "for most parents, the 'ice epidemic' is a non-issue".

 

Alcohol is the substance most likely to trouble parents of teens, simply because it is more commonplace.

 

New guidelines to be issued later this month by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council state there is no safe alcohol consumption if you are under 18, and it is particularly dangerous if you are under 15.

 

This will pose new challenges for parents of teenagers comfortable with previous guidelines, which allowed those over 15 to have a drink under parental supervision.

 

Dillon's advice is to delay the initiation of alcohol as long as possible. The research is contradictory, "but we know more about alcohol and the developing brain and children under 16 should avoid it".

 

It is not true that getting drunk occasionally is "just a phase teens go through", and sending that message can be dangerous, he says.

 

In Dillon's experience, teenagers sometimes need excuses not to drink or take drugs, to "dodge peer pressure".

 

Among the best: I am allergic to alcohol; I'd love to smoke cannabis but I have an uncle with mental health problems; Dad found out I was drinking last weekend and I'll be grounded if I get caught again.

 

He suggests parents help their children develop these strategies.

 

Parents spend the teenage years holding their breath in the hope the spade work they have put in will protect their children when parental influence wanes, and peers and society take over.

 

The good news is that they have more influence than they may think, especially if the message from those in authority remains strong. Teenagers do not have to become drug abusers and binge drinkers, and most are not.

 

And last week, I inadvertently said Fiona Stanley was a plastic surgeon. She is an epidemiologist.

 

devinemiranda@hotmail.com

 

Author: Miranda Bovine

Date: 5 February 2009

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Copyright: 2009 The Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/the-war...3423306097.html

[freddie]

Oh no. I read it all before seeing who wrote it. I had recently vowed to never read another word by Ms Divine. I'm glad I read this insightful piece though. Wow. The war on drugs is being won as we speak. :/ :D :D :D

[shroomyshroom]

if you looked up the word dauch bag ... Miranda Devine pic would be there

[67Special]

The war on drugs is being won

BULLSHIT!

[Rocker]

Yep, the war on drugs is being won.

They were saying that 10 years ago, and 20 years ago, and 30 and 40 and 50...........................!

 

I wonder what drugs Miranda uses? I mean you can't avoid them because they are in chemist shops, supermarkets, hotels and liquor barns, restaurants, hospitals etc etc etc.

[humphrey b flaubert]

The reason more young people use e than smoke dope is because a large percentage of them are stupid enough to believe all that reefer madness horese shit that has been getting peddled in the past 10 years or so. I know people who thought nothing of dropping 5-10 e a weekend and getting through a gram or 2 of speed, but are too scared to smoke dope. that's why it's called being 'e-tarded'.

There has not been a reduction in dope smoking just less people will admit to it.

10 or even 5 years ago I was fairly open about enjoying a smoke and most people would not judge me for it, now this is the only place when I will admit that I still enjoy a bit now and again and I doubt very much if I'm the only person in the world who does this.

[jabez]

getting blind drunk, popping pills and doing speed is more popular at the moment then smoking weed, don't see how that means there winning anything.

 

Personlly I think it's all got to do with the type of music that's in, when it's rock it all about cannabis and hallucinogens and when it's pop it all pills and powders.

 

Who really cares there's still a shit load of people out there who don't care about what's in and prefer getting stoned!

[humphrey b flaubert]

The price sure have dropped now it's unfashionable Can't complain about that

[shroomyshroom]

The reason more young people use e than smoke dope is because a large percentage of them are stupid enough to believe all that reefer madness horese shit that has been getting peddled in the past 10 years or so. I know people who thought nothing of dropping 5-10 e a weekend and getting through a gram or 2 of speed, but are too scared to smoke dope. that's why it's called being 'e-tarded'.

There has not been a reduction in dope smoking just less people will admit to it.

10 or even 5 years ago I was fairly open about enjoying a smoke and most people would not judge me for it, now this is the only place when I will admit that I still enjoy a bit now and again and I doubt very much if I'm the only person in the world who does this.

 

i don't think that is the case at all.... i use e... have for a good 10 years... I use it more than dope for the simple fact i don't get paranoid on e.. and i don't want cancer in 10 years time... most ppl that use e, i can pretty much guarantee smoke a joint or 2 on the come down... I know everyone i take e with does and that is alot of ppl

 

not lagging on ya bro but you come accross as one of those ppl that only smoke weed cause of all that e bullshit that it drains your spinal fluid bullshit that has been peddled in the last 10 years or so...

[humphrey b flaubert]

i don't think that is the case at all.... i use e... have for a good 10 years... I use it more than dope for the simple fact i don't get paranoid on e.. and i don't want cancer in 10 years time... most ppl that use e, i can pretty much guarantee smoke a joint or 2 on the come down... I know everyone i take e with does and that is alot of ppl

 

not lagging on ya bro but you come accross as one of those ppl that only smoke weed cause of all that e bullshit that it drains your spinal fluid bullshit that has been peddled in the last 10 years or so...

I don't have a problem with e, I've always had fun when I have taken it but I really do have a problem with people who think it's less harmful than dope 'because dope makes you schizophrenic' if you know anyone who's been hitting the pills hard (5 days a week or more) you'll know what I mean by e-tard.

I certainly see a lot more scare reports in the media about the evil weed than I do about e.

I'm also pretty sure that there's no link between dope and cancer, unless you mix with tobacco so you can relax there