Category: Australia

Alcohol and violence

True or false – alcohol plays no role in violence

Articles, Australia, International

Alcohol consumption has been linked to many things, including abusive texts, hangovers, slurred words, loss of vision and most importantly, violence. However, academics are vigorously questioning claims published in a 2015 scientific report, citing the link between alcohol and violence.

In January, 2015, British Anthropologist, Anne Fox, and her research team published a report entitled, Understanding behaviour in the Australian and New Zealand night-time economies. Commissioned by Australian brewery, Lion, the research concluded drinking does not cause violence, but rather, a violent culture causes violence.

In a report by the ABC on March 5, 2015, Fox cited alcohol as a substance does not transform someone’s character and make them act in a violent nature.

“Alcohol – as all of the scientific literature shows, which we’ve reviewed very extensively in the report – cannot be considered a cause of violence. If it was, we’d see uniform levels of violence among all drinkers,” said Fox.

In a very recent report published by the New Zealand Herald on January 13, 2016, researchers Nicki Jackson from Auckland University and Professor Kypros Kypri from the University of Newcastle and Otago, argued Fox’s report lacks sound credibility to exist as independent academic research, and that Dr Fox underplays the role of alcohol in violence.Fox’s research has witnessed further challenge by the recent debate regarding national alcohol laws, following the death of 18-year-old Cole Miller on January 3, 2016 in Brisbane – the third Australian in four years to have succumbed to an alcohol-induced, one-punch attack.

As mentioned in an article published by the Sydney Morning Herald on January 12, 2015 after the implementation of lock-out laws in Sydney’s historically violent Kings Cross, 2014 saw a 40 per cent drop in alcohol-related assaults at licensed premises, demonstrating a clear link between alcohol and violence and the benefits of regulating access to the substance.

Fox’s report is also in stark contrast to long-standing research citing alcohol does contribute to violence. According to The National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) published in 2013, approximately 5 million Australians aged 14 and above had fallen victim to an alcohol-related incident, the majority of which involved verbal abuse (22 per cent), while the number of individuals experiencing physical abuse between 2010 and 2013, rose from 1.5 million to 1.7 million.

Given the academic sceptics, a long-standing history of evidence, and the obvious relevance of alcohol-induced harm, Fox’s research seems erroneous. Perhaps Fox and her team should seriously consider conducting any further “independent” research funded by breweries. We welcome your thoughts.

Drugs at music festival

Drug offences during New Year’s Day Dance Festival

Articles, Australia, Education

On New Year’s Day, 2016, 184 revellers at a Sydney dance music festival were arrested by Police due to illicit drug offences, including eight revellers charged with drug supply.

Dubbed operation ‘Fuzzy Field Day 2016’, Police targeted anti-social behaviour, alcohol-related crime, and illegal drug use and supply, both inside and outside the venue, with assistance from drug detection sniffer dogs.

As part of the arrests, a 26-year-old female, and a 19-year-old male were both charged with supplying MDMA (ecstasy) pills, possessing 100 and 81 capsules respectively.

Unfortunately, Australian music festivals are becoming more and more synonymous with drug abuse, overdose and supply of illicit substances. Sydney’s Field Day was no different, with more than 200 revellers receiving medical treatment at the event, while one 23-year-old woman overdosed, and spent several days recovering in hospital.

Addressing reporters the morning after the event, Chief Inspector Stuart Bell expressed his confusion and anger regarding event attendees believing they can get away with using and supplying illicit drugs, despite its illegality.

“People continue to come to these events and take drugs, and we will continue to police these drugs, and we’ll hopefully detect you and arrest you,” said Chief Inspector Bell.

Without proper protocol in place, many addicted people or those fighting an addiction can become enmeshed in situations like music festivals where drug use is rampant, resulting in relapse, and sometimes, overdose.

DARA Thailand uses a variety of methods, namely its Integrated Behavioural Treatment Model (IBTM), to treat a plethora of addictions for four, eight and 12 weeks respectively, located in tropical Koh Chang. Importantly, DARA’s treatment program has a high completion rate of 92 per cent.

Furthermore, DARA Thailand is committed to educating its clientele about how best to fight one’s addiction post-treatment at its rehab facility, by equipping them with tools and support to continue their journey to recovery.

If you, or someone you know and/or love, is battling an addiction and requires help, or more information, please contact DARA Thailand on +66 87 140 7788 or email [email protected]

 

Abuse of codeine pills

Australia’s growing epidemic of codeine pain killer abuse

Articles, Australia

Dubbed a “national emergency” by the Australian Medical Association (AMA) in August, 2015, codeine pain killer abuse and overdose continues to capture Australian news headlines.

Last week, Australian hip-hop recording artist, Matt Colwell, aka “360” made headlines after releasing a rap video recorded in what appears to be a home studio, in which he explains his personal battle with prescription painkiller addiction.

The video, which has been viewed more than 7.25 million times, and shared nearly 200,000 times since 360 posted it on his Facebook page on January 9, 2016 at 2:05pm, has prompted renewed calls for stricter regulations around the use of codeine-containing medications.

In his song, entitled “I’m Sorry,” 360 describes the severity of his addiction, stating he was taking 90 pills, or three packets of over-the-counter medication, Nurofen Plus, on a daily basis.

“If I had nine lives then I’m using them up, no-one knew my addiction it was stupid as f***. 

“Ninety pills daily of Nurofen Plus…” 

He even went so far as to acknowledge an overdose, which caused him to cancel a series of shows in January, 2015.

“I was a zombie, I couldn’t feel nothing. I smashed four packets because I just wanted to feel something. 

“Yo, I overdosed for sure, I was at the venue, I was going to perform, 

“I can’t remember, see I was told in a report my tour manager found me convulsing on the floor…”

360 isn’t the first celebrity to bring Australia’s dependence on opioids into the spotlight.

Last year, Kim Ledger, father to the late Oscar award-winning actor, Heath Ledger, who died from an overdose of six-different prescription medications in August 2008, delivered a keynote presentation on behalf of the not-for-profit organisation, Scriptwise, for whom he is Patron, explaining prescription medication misuse, and abuse is out of control in Australia.

His organisation, along with various other Australian entities, called for the introduction of a real-time prescription monitoring service involving GPs and pharmacists to help tackle the growing public health epidemic.

However, as 360 states in his rap, “That’s the thing with a codeine addiction, it’s over the counter, so you don’t need prescriptions.”

According to an ABC News article published Monday, January 11, 2016 Australia is one of the few countries in the Western world that still permits codeine-containing medications to be sold over-the-counter, despite continued calls from many quarters that the substance be reclassified as prescription only.

Further to this, Australia has seen a recent surge in the use of heroin – a drug that had a strong grip on the nation during the 1990s.

The Australian Drug Foundation argues that more Australians are becoming addicted to painkillers, and when addicted “users” are unable to get their “fix” due to doctor and/or pharmacy shopping failures, they often switch to cheaper and more accessible street drugs, such as heroin.

If you, or someone you know and/or love, is battling an addiction to codeine pain killers and need help or wish to learn more, please contact DARA Thailand on +66 87 140 7788 or email [email protected]

Australia drug testing

Debate rages over pill testing at music festivals

Articles, Australia

According to recent media reports, 2015 saw a spike in drug-induced harm at Australian music festivals, including 120 people who were treated for drug-related issues, and the passing of Sydney pharmacist, Sylvia Choi, 25 at Stereosonic. These events have served to fuel the debate on pill testing at music festivals.

Pill testing, which indicates the content of an illegal drug in a user’s system, is currently practised widely throughout Europe, in countries such as The Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Spain and France.

Australian Drug Foundation National Policy Manager, Mr Geoff Munro told SBS News on December 7, 2015 that Australia urgently requires a pill testing trial to help curb the spiralling incidence of drug-induced harm.

“We have to recognise there is a culture of drug taking at music festivals and this would target the people who are determined to take the drugs.”

The results of the 2013 National Council on Drugs Survey, flagged in a report by popular the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre,  revealed more than 82 per cent of the 2,300 young Aussies aged between 16 and 25 surveyed support pill testing.

However the argument has met fierce debate from politicians and health experts who maintain this approach to drug prevention simply increases the risk of drug-induced harm, as festival goers will participate in unsupervised gatherings to avoid being policed, resulting in more fatalities.

Currently police forces in South Australia and New South Wales will not support pill testing at music festivals, with Forensic Toxicologist and Safework Laboratories Marketing Director, Mr Andrew Leibie, informing SBS that pill testing, will not detect illicit drugs.

“On-site pill testing is impractical and unlikely to have any meaningful impact, or prevent the kinds of tragic deaths we have seen in recent weeks,” said Mr Leibie.

With the advent of the New Year and many music festivals to come, the debate regarding whether “to test, or not to test” pills will continue to escalate. In the interim, we pray that the implementation of any drug abuse prevention strategy will help to curb the number of senseless deaths at musical festivals and the like.