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Brisbane, Gold Coast venues test positive


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SOUTHEAST Queensland's bars and nightclubs, even some restaurants, are awash with drug users, but the joyride could be over.

 

With a wave of new technology targeting troublemakers, The Courier-Mail tested 10 licensed venues in Brisbane and the Gold Coast in the past fortnight and found eight tested positive for traces of amphetamine-type stimulants.

 

The venues, which The Courier-Mail has decided against naming, included nightclubs in Fortitude Valley, Gold Coast restaurants, major entertainment venues, a lawn bowls club and a theatre.

 

The swabs were conducted with equipment used by Victorian police in their roadside drug tests and targeted four types of drugs: amphetamine/methamphetamine/ecstasy; cocaine, cannabis and opiates.

 

Six of the venues tested positive for traces of all four drug types, including a toilet shared by a restaurant strip on the Gold Coast. One Gold Coast pub had traces of amphetamines. Swabs were taken in bathroom areas, which are common sites for drug use.

 

The tests were done as part of The Courier-Mail's Drug Scourge series, which starts on Monday, to discover the extent of drug use in the state.

 

And they reflected evidence which shows a pill epidemic in Australia, causing a new surge in drug-related problems.

 

The bowls club and theatre produced negative results while the Valley nightclubs produced the strongest positive readings.

 

But licensees say they are fighting back in a bid to lose a reputation for turning a blind eye to drug use.

 

The newspaper has learnt that some nightclubs are on the verge of rolling out facial recognition technology that will enable their closed-circuit cameras to immediately detect "people of interest" entering or leaving the premises.

 

Other methods ready for widespread use in southeast Queensland include: Headcams miniature audio and visual recording devices attached to the head which enable security to record patrons on the premises.; and a network between venues which could allow licensees to swap information on unruly patrons taken from scans of identification cards.

 

Cabarets Queensland vice-president Sarosh Mehta, who is a partner in Caxton St venue Casablanca, said any measures which could help licensees limit troublemakers were welcome.

 

"No licensee I know condones any drug taking at all and we do anything we can to comply with police to stamp that out," he said.

 

"But technology is now providing us with additional steps that we can take to get our main message out that we want people to be able to celebrate in safe environments."

 

Justin O'Connor, the chief executive of Queensland Hotels Association, said licensees did not condone drug use at their venues.

 

"Anecdotal observations from QHA members indicates the use of cannabis, and more recently ecstasy and methylamphetamines, is relatively common place among younger people in Queensland entertainment precincts and venues ... particularly in the late-night economy," he said.

 

He said monitoring of patrons at hotel entries remained the best method of preventing drug use at venues.

 

Other options, including security patrols of toilet areas, were also an option.

 

Australia is the world's biggest user of ecstasy per capita, and authorities fear the nation faces a wave of drug issues in years to come because of the mental health implications and other problems flowing from the pill epidemic.

 

Author: Michael Crutcher

Date: 28 March 2009

Source: Courier Mail

Copyright: 2009 Queensland Newspapers.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...09-3102,00.html

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"No licensee I know condones any drug taking at all and we do anything we can to comply with police to stamp that out," he said.

 

So sellers of alcohol don't condone drug taking, well bugga me, I thought alcohol WAS A DRUG.

or is it they just don't like the competition?

Maybe they should change their name from the "hotels association" to the "hypocrites association".

you know truth in advertising and all that.

 

Pot, kettle, black.

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