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Alcohol and other drugs

Alcohol abuse is still the major story

Monday, 19 October 2009 - The  Adelaide Advertiser might have featured illegal drug use this morning but stories of alcohol abuse have become the major subject for stories in most Australian newspapers. Just have a look through the list of what is featured in our  Crikey Breakfast Wrap  each morning.
Perhaps only the debate about emissions trading schemes is given more column centimetres than stories about the evil drink. It is as if a new wave of prohibition is about to be unleashed and this at a time when the official statistics show that alcohol consumption per head is well down from its high point of 20 years ago.

Equal and opposite reactions

Monday, 19 October 2009 - A smart man that Newton. He might have been dealing with motion but his third law regularly has a broader application. As has been found in South Australia where the reaction to concentrating on limiting binge drinking has been a boom in the use of cheap illegal drugs bought at a fraction of the cost of night club alcohol. more

The drink and the drug stories Monday 19 October 2009

The drink
Drunks illegally served booze  - Police have uncovered only a handful of cases of drunk people being served alcohol - in an entire decade - despite the state's booze-fuelled havoc. Anti-binge drinking advocates have lashed out at police for nor not bothering to properly enforce the law -  Melbourne Herald Sun
Campaigners take shot at booze-inspired toys  - Booze-inspired toys encouraging binge drinking have been slammed by alcohol safety campaigners ahead of schoolies week. The popularity during the party season of gadgets such as beer bongs and guns that shoot liquor has sparked calls for a national review into where alcohol-related paraphernalia is sold -  Melbourne Herald Sun
The drugs
Drug barons recruit younger users  - Cheap illegal drugs bought at a fraction of the cost of nightclub alcohol are luring teenage partygoers into the dangers of substance abuse, experts warn -  Adelaide Advertiser
When love is found in a pill  - The pusher: Ecstasy dealer Elijah is not worried about what happens to hiscustomers. An enthusiastic salesman, he sings his products' praises -  Adelaide Advertiser
Experimentation leads to permanent effects  - The user: Justin seems like an ordinary 20-year-old.He went to a respectable school, holds down a good job and has plenty of friends. But he also is a recreational drug user and says years of messing with drugs have taken their toll on him  - Adelaide Advertiser
The venues: Want a fix? You don't have to look far  - Nightspots and festivals are hotspots for illegal drug use -  Adelaide Advertiser
Drugs, drunks on a night of dirty deals  - Ben Harvy takes  Adelaide Advertiser  readers on a night out in the drug scene.

The reaction to action

Thursday, 22 May 2008 - That social engineering does not have the precision of physical engineering is illustrated yet again by the reports that criminal syndicates have been making a mint running drugs to remote communities in the Northern Territory since widespread alcohol restrictions were brought in. more

Hop in to the wine cask

Friday, 16 May 2008 - If politicians were fair dinkum about believing that the price mechanism is the best way to reduce alcohol consumption they would not be fiddling around with what rate of excise should be applied to sweet and fizzy alco pops - they would be hopping right in and changing the way that wine is taxed. more

Beer, Smokes Up!

Tuesday, 29 April 2008 - They are a timid lot this Rudd Government. Here we had a chance for a return to a fair dinkum budget headline for the first time since the indexation of excise rates in the 1980s and they chickened out. Instead of waiting until budget night to slug the young drinkers and all of the smokers at the same time, Kevin Rudd decided to pretend he was not so much putting up a tax as moving to stop binge drinking. more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October alcohol and drug stories

 
© Richard Farmer 2008