Pubdate: Tue, 01 Nov 2005
Source: Australian, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2005sThe Australian
Contact: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/files/aus_letters.htm
Website: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/35
Author: Simon Kearney

DRUG MIXERS SPIKE NURSE'S WORKLOAD

NINE out of 10 of Beaver Hudson's psychiatric patients arrive with a 
cocktail of drugs in their bodies that would make Rolling Stone Keith 
Richards blush.

St Vincent's Hospital, where Mr Hudson works, is right in the middle 
of Sydney's drug scene. Described as drug-psychosis central, it is 
about to open a ward dedicated to the burgeoning number of 
drug-related psychiatric patients.

Mr Hudson, an emergency psychiatric nurse who has been at St 
Vincent's since 1998, has seen more than the typical variety of 
cases. From street walkers to stockbrokers, St Vincent's catchment 
area handles them all.

"Our area is what could be described as a very rich demographic," he said.

The Weekend Australian reported a disturbing link between drug use 
and psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia. Federal parliamentary 
secretary for health Christopher Pyne, who has oversight on drugs, 
lashed the states' relaxed cannabis laws on the weekend.

Mr Hudson says it is common for a patient to arrive having taken 
ecstasy, methamphetamine, the animal tranquilliser ketamine, 
marijuana, various prescription drugs and alcohol, and then having 
tried to wash it out of their systems with purgatory drugs.

"Nine times out of 10, people are poly-substance abusers," he said. 
Many arrive extremely depressed, hearing voices or unpredictably 
violent -- and maybe all three.

The hospital's statistics show that a huge increase in amphetamine 
use has resulted in a spike in drug-related cases handled by the 
Emergency ward -- from 200 in 1999 to 1600 last year, relating to 
methamphetamine alone.

St Vincent's director of mental health, Peter McGeorge, said 
availability was the problem.

"As the heroin supplies have diminished, people have turned to 
amphetamines as an alternative," he said.

"They're shooting it up and snorting it the same way as they would 
have with heroin."

Dr McGeorge said the increased potency of marijuana and the tendency 
of drug users to take more than one drug had contributed to the rise 
in emergency psychiatric cases at the hospital.

Dr McGeorge and Mr Hudson believe the new unit's greatest impact 
could be on getting treatment and early intervention to young drug 
users at a very early stage.

"The people that we worry about are youth. We'll be able to offer an 
alternative and get the family in, the general practitioner and drug 
and alcohol counsellors," Dr McGeorge said.
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