Marijuana inevitably leads to ‘hard’ drug use. One taste of heroin and you are hooked. Drugs are destroying our nation. Ecstasy is killing our youth. Blah blah blah.
The media and general public often sensationalize and demonize illicit drug use, mostly to no real purpose. I can still remember when the anti-heroin ads came out years ago... angst-ridden teenagers on the verge of death, huge bags painted under their eyes. It was a great joke to many of us injectors as we didn’t know anyone like that! Sure, some of us were hooked, but most of us still looked after ourselves and the images were good comedy value but little else.
A similar approach is still in play. The newspapers talk about ecstasy and speed killing today’s youth. The problem is most teenagers know plenty of mates using these drugs and see a huge gap between the horror portrayed by the media, and the actual reality. Of course, illicit drugs can kill people. Licit drugs kill people too, and in far greater numbers. Everyone is familiar with alcohol and nicotine, so shock tactics don’t tend to work, therefore the media and government tend to give realistic information on socially acceptable drugs.
Emotionally based scare campaigns may give middle class families a chance to shake their heads at others and feel self-righteous, but they do bugger all to actually help anyone. If we are doing illicit drugs, we can get informed from the right sources. We can hang on to user magazines like this one for reference, or pass them on. Remember that too much of any kind of drug is going to mess us up, and a few of us may not be able to handle any drug well, booze included. So we can figure out what we want in life and try to balance our drug use with everything else. Or stop using them. Whatever works for each person.
Although the media usually over dramatises the dangers of injecting, it is still a high-risk activity. There’s plenty of info at our NSP things that will reduce the risks. We can also try alternatives like snorting, smoking, shafting or swallowing depending on which is our fave drug. The media may treat us as though we are brainless, but we can stand tall, get educated and use illicit drugs more safely. So let’s give a shit and get educated!
Some interesting statistics
The proportion of Australians who have used illicit substances decreased
from 16.9% in 2001 to 15.3% in 2004. While cannabis remains the most widely
used illicit drug, the proportion of people using it between 2003 and 2004
dropped from 12.9% to 11.3%.
- National Drug Household Survey
Recent use of cannabis among 14 to 19 year old Australians has almost halved
from 1998 to 2004, and has dropped from 44% among 20-29 year olds in 1998
to 32% in 2004. Adult usage rates are higher in Australia (15%) than in
all other English-speaking countries including New Zealand (13.4%), Britain
(10.6%) and the US (9.3%). Australia also has higher usage levels than the
Netherlands, which has much more liberal drug laws.
- The Centre for Youth Drug Studies at the Australian Drug Foundation
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