jad n rich

Remember last weeks rants on becoming real australians and adopting their way of life, spare a thought then, front pager on most aussie newsites today to raise awarness among other australians.

Fairly radical stuff for a 'western' nation. Read the bit where $500,000 was spent on 15 aboriginal communities, down here in touristville the council will spend that amount re planting a roundabout or doing up a park

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...55E601,00.html

Megalania

"AM - Saturday, 6 August , 2005 08:18:00
Reporter: Anne Barker
ELIZABETH JACKSON: In the early 90’s a remote community in Arnhem Land experimented with a new type of fuel – Avgas – in an effort to stamp out petrol sniffing.

Now Ngukurr, 600 kilometres southeast of Darwin, is one of a growing number of communities experimenting with another fuel – Opal – that has no effect on sniffers.

But while Opal has seen a drop in the number of sniffers, at Ngukurr it's caused a big spike in local crime as desperate sniffers try anything to get their hands on the last unleaded fuel in the community."

Opal sparks crime wave in Ngukurr



http://www.arta.com.au/B6.html


Yesterday, in the shadow of Uluru, a coronial inquest into the death of three Aboriginal petrol sniffers travelled to the small indigenous community of Mutitjulu and came up against a confronting sight.

As community elder Sarah Goodwin was giving evidence, sitting on a chair in the sand, her son, Steven Uluru, wandered up with a can of petrol pressed against his face. He sat quietly at the edge of the gathering, put the can under his shirt and lowered his nose to the petrol.

A few moments passed, and Northern Territory Coroner Greg Cavanagh became visibly upset. "The pathos is just ..." he said, then stopped and stood up. "I'm going to go for a walk."

Five minutes later, Mr Cavanagh returned and promptly adjourned the inquiry until today. Of all the evidence presented to the inquiry, this was the most blunt.

Petrol-sniffing looks coroner in the eye


In your face: Steven Uluru sniffs petrol from a can during a coronial inquest yesterday into the deaths of three sniffers in central.

jad n rich

One of the many reports on it said after the introduction of avgas, unleaded is being brought in by outsiders selling it to them for $30 per coke bottle.

Megalania

And don't be too sure your kids haven't tried it, or glue or propane or ...

You may never never know.

jad n rich

Bike riding park by maroochydore basketball center sunday, 2 perfume bottles and one damaged deodorant can, should imagine in inner city areas that would be common not worth a mention, eight year old was a bit shocked tho.

We try to give them education by reality, nice walk around some downtown areas of melbourne left affects of drugs abuse fairly clear , same with road skills, trip to the back of the police wreck holding pen in Nambour worked a treat.

ozzieeagle

The worst areas in Melbourne for this kind of abuse, are the outer suburbs, Like Lilydale, Dandenong, Frankston, Whittlesea. Melton, Sunbury. It's more your Harddrugs, in the Inner city. Mind you there isn't anything as Damaging as Chroming, It's at least on a par with Heroin.

JayDeee

Loads of Chroming round here, I didn;'t have a clue what it was but aparently they use paper bags, spray silver or any metalic spray paint into the bag and then inhale it, early in the morning there are usually 2-3 groups of kids sitting in my street with silver marks round there faces where they have been doing it all night.

In Bunnings all the spray paints are locked up in big cages

You also cant buy sudafed from the chemist round here without showing your driving licence and being made to feel like a criminal as aparently you can break it down and use some drug in it for illegal drugs. I'm sure sooner or later I'l have a knock at the door as I get sinusitus a lot and the only thing that takes the pain away is sudafed.

Geordie George

Sobering article. I always think it's interesting when British expats think that Australia's social problems are non-existent or somehow not relevant to their potential new lives. I certainly don't know about actual drug use figures (ABC?!), but perception of drug use over here is in no way different to people's perception of drug use in the UK; the same is true of the two countries' crime problems (and I am generalising across the population, not just talking about drug use or crime within indigenous populations). Australian parents have exactly the same concerns for their children as British parents.

Stu.E

Because it contains Pseudoephedrine, a man made version of the natural Ephedra which has similar effects to Speed. Hence the 'Do not use if you have high blood pressure, heart condition etc'.

JayDeee

AH, is that the stuff that clears the sinus'? , just thinking that they could take that bit out if all it does is wake you up. Does explain why I feel quite lively after taking them tho

MrsDagboy

Taken by truckies by the truck load (pardon the pun) when they need to stay awake (& the real thing isnt avaiable).

Stephen Jones

It's all very sobering.

Steve

tonyk38

Very true, and tragically, Australia's drug problem is huge. I remember reading in Hampshire's book on Living in Aus how Heroin is a A$3 Billion a year industry.

I also remember when I was in Cairns being approached by two kids asking if I'd buy them some glue from the shop I was passing. I can't remember my reply, (though it certainly wasn't a 'yes'. needless to say), but I was shocked that I had to come to Aus for this to happen (and I grew up in a rough area of South London).

Someone on here (I can't remember who) recently highlighted that Aus' drug problem is actually significantly worse than the UK's. I can't corroborate this, but that, and contributions on this thread are not encouraging...

JayDeee

Unfortunately amongst the Aboriginal communities alcoholism and drug use is very high. Anyone living in areas where there are Aboriginal communities will be aware of this. If you look at the threads above the areas mentioned are Cairns and other areas of FNQ, here in country WA and the NT all areas where there is a higher population of Aboriginal people. Obviously there are the same drug problems as there are in most big cities over the world but they seem to be more hidden in the Uk for example, Here maybe the warm weather and the fact that aboriginal people tend to congregate in public parks where everyone can see what is goin on just makes it more obvious to the public.

Kala

Stu.E

I wouldn't say it was hidden. I've seen many a 'Dream Team' propping up park benches etc in the UK with bottle in brown bag in hand.

I don't think the drug problem is any worse (re: Sydney) than it is in say a comparable like London. The thing I've noticed is theres more weed around here-I expect because its easier to grow in this climate than in the UK and the possesion of a small amount only seems to warrant a smack on the wrist from the Fuzz.