Pubdate: Wed, 19 Dec 2012
Source: Daily Telegraph (Australia)
Copyright: 2012 News Limited
Contact: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/readers-comments
Website: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/113
Note: LTE form at bottom of comment page
Author: Miranda Devine

HAVE WE SURRENDERED IN THE WAR ON DRUGS?

IN his school photo, Nick Mitchell looks like a typical skateboard-mad
Central Coast 15-year-old: a cheeky grin, twinkling blue eyes and
tousled hair. He could be anyone's son.

But the Gosford High Year 9 student died after taking a drug believed
to be LSD, at a time when drug use among young people is on the rise
after more than a decade of decline.

Toxicology reports were still not complete on the exact composition of
the tablets Nick and his unnamed friend took on that sweltering
Saturday evening of December 1, Inspector Glenn Trayhurn said.

"We're assuming from the facts known that it was possibly LSD," he
said.

"We don't know how much he has ingested but it was more than his body
could take."

What is known is that a healthy 15-year-old boy died that night from
suspected respiratory and heart complications, not long after
ingesting the drug.

Insp Trayhurn says police have not yet been able to track down the
dealer but he is exasperated at lax attitudes towards
drug-taking.

"There's no such thing as a recreational drug," he said. "They're
illegal."

He exhorts parents to educate children about the dangers of drugs:
"It's not just police, the whole community needs to get behind this
and tell kids what the consequences are. In this case, they were
catastrophic."

Unfortunately the community is not backing up police. Instead, we are
sending children an ambivalent message about drugs. We have Sydney's
St Vincent's Hospital lending its reputation to the drug liberalising
crusade of Dr Alex Wodak, who wants cannabis sold in little packets at
the post office.

We have establishment figures like Foreign Minister Bob Carr endorsing
the Australia21 group's policy of drug decriminalisation.

Meanwhile, alcohol is the chief preoccupation of policymakers, who are
intent on making it so expensive and difficult to obtain that illegal
drugs are a logical, cheap alternative for cash-strapped young people.
The inevitable result of slackening attitudes towards drugs is there
for all to see in the statistics.

According to last year's National Drug Strategy household survey, the
number of people over 14 who used drugs in the previous year rose by
20 per cent between 2007 and 2010.

The use of hallucinogens more than doubled. The good news story on
cannabis has also reversed after a decade's steep decline.

Between 2007 and 2010 its use rose from 9.1 per cent to 10.3 per cent,
despite mounting evidence of associated mental health harms,
schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder and even reduced IQ.

Despite warnings that the "war on drugs" was doomed to failure, drug
use plummeted after the Howard government's $500 million Tough on
Drugs strategy was launched in 1997.

What the clampdown did was curtail the number of young people
experimenting with drugs, delay the age of experimentation and reduce
the number of people who used drugs on a regular basis.

But attitudes are changing, drug legalisers feel empowered, the
Australian Federal Police are too busy with people smugglers and
children are again receiving mixed messages.

While our vigilance wanes, drugs are becoming easier to obtain.
Websites described as the "eBay of drugs" are springing up and
authorities seem powerless to deal with them. In an extraordinary
story by Conor Duffy from ABC's 7.30 two weeks ago, convicted
20-year-old internet drug dealer Ryan West boasted about the easy
money he made selling ecstasy, as much as $2500 a day, with profits of
800 per cent.

"I was extravagant," he told Duffy. "I didn't really care if I got
caught. I wasn't covering my trails at all."

When West was eventually caught and convicted of four charges,
including intent to supply a prohibited drug, the punishment he
received was an intensive supervision order. What kind of deterrent is
that for future drug dealers?

One indication of the consequences of our revitalised drug industry
comes from the latest annual report of drug and alcohol rehabilitation
service Odyssey House. The incidence of diagnosed mental illness among
Odyssey clients leapt to 56 per cent, an increase of one-third over
the previous year and a staggering five times higher than 13 years
ago.

Chief executive James Pitt says the increasing prevalence of
amphetamines, such as ice and speed, is the culprit.

"With amphetamine use (there are) hallucinations, auditory and
visual," he told the ABC yesterday. "People suffer from high levels of
aggressiveness. They exhibit a lot more direct mental health problems
than a lot of the other people."

Back on the Central Coast, police have been doing their best to "stamp
out" drug use, as Insp Trayhurn puts it. His command has increased
drug detections in the past year by 2.5 per cent by targeting
suspected dealers.

He is one of the good guys, but even he feels he has to make excuses
for focusing on drug use, tying it to other crimes such as break and
enter.

It is terrible to imagine the night of fear and madness Nick and his
mate experienced three weeks ago. Nick's friend suffered what police
describe as a psychotic episode, stripped off his clothes and ran
outside into traffic where he was hit by a car, suffering minor injuries.

Nick was found in a coma by his 11-year-old brother in his bedroom,
which police said was in disarray. Now his devastated family is left
to face Christmas without him.

Teenagers inevitably will take risks but sending them the amber light
on drugs will only result in more tragedy. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D