I'm starting to think the police are hiding the fact that all these idiots are totally ice-fked because they're embarrassed they can't control the problem.
The meth problem is becoming overwhelming, especially in some smaller towns. I am really worried about where it is leading.
Same. They need to tackle this problem as soon as possible. The first thing to do is to make alcohol cheap, get rid of taxes on it, keep a GST if they want, but it has to be made into a real, cheap alternative to hard drugs. I imagine it is more pleasurable to consume than meth as well, which is another bonus. Drunks are easier to manhandle and less coordinated, therefore on a threat scale they present less danger.
That will just make it more expensive, we already have the cheapest pot in the western world (Melb) The government have never seen a dollar being made that they didn't want to steal Kill the black market, kill the economy
Death toll from this tragedy is now five with the passing of a three-month old infant. This was the floral tribute/memorial at the GPO corner of the Bourke Street Mall on Saturday morning around 12:40PM.
Agreed julie . They have demonised it for far too long .A non lethal drug that has many proven medicinal benefits but outlawed . Originally banned for monetary gain by dupont & the head of the DEA it the time so dupont could sell their new nylon rope. From memory duponts daughter was the head of the dea's partner.(it may have been the other way around) foggy memory here Which actually backfired in the war effort when dupont couldnt supply enough rope for the war effort . Then the rhetoric went from "pot makes you a rapist/ murderer " to " grow hemp for the nation ". How things can change to suit themselves. Im happy to see many states in the US & countries around the world acknowledge its medicinal benefits & legalise it.The sooner OZ gets on board the better.
When Australia gets on board with the legalisation of Cannabis, the monopolisation of the industry will be defined for crony insiders and regulation introduced to protect it by making difficult for new entrants.
That's not really going to help unless there's also a coordinated effort to change the drinking culture in this country and more funding for mental health services. Getting off your face on alcohol versus getting off your face on Drug X isn't necessarily as important a subject as the number of people trying to get intoxicated and escape from reality. That points to deeper problems with mental health and addiction. Unlike some other countries in the world, we go about banning and restricting things in an attempt to cover up the symptoms. We've made alcohol the only real "acceptable" drug, so that's what people use to get themselves messed up and then we get all upset about public drunkenness and alcohol fueled violence. No drug is completely safe - alcohol certainly isn't - so it can't just be about banning this and making that cheaper.
One of the reasons meth is so popular is because it's cheap. From what I've read, people on meth present more potential dangers to the community than drunks because drunks lose their coordination, meth heads don't. Making alcohol cheaper than meth would encourage dickheads to drink instead of shooting up. I'd rather drunk dickheads than methed out dickheads. Expensive alcohol is one factor contributing to meth use, there of course are other social factors, but the high price of alcohol is easier to remedy than unemployment, disenfranchisement, stupidity and other factors that contribute to drug abuse.
Meth isn't cheap, it's expensive. Expensive alcohol has nothing to do with meth use. Where the hell do you people get your info from?
Sure, but all of those other things are ultimately going to have a bigger influence on whether someone feels the need or desire to get intoxicated with something. If a point of ice costs $40 and will get you wasted for a day, it's not that much different in price to the amount of vodka you'd need to do the same thing, but slashing the price of booze across the board doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a better class of user or less users overall. Alcohol is objectively more damaging to other people than meth is, but meth is also way more damaging to the user than alcohol is. Saying "take what you like, so long as it doesn't impact me" is okay to a certain extent, but there's some stuff out there (like krokodil) which nobody should be taking, even if it's only the user who suffers harm from it. If we don't do anything to civilize our recreational drug taking, people are just going to shift from a taking a high dose of X to a high dose of Y. Either way, that doesn't make for happy, healthy people so we have to address all those other complicated things as well as the price.
