It's quite possible they are there for bona fide users (ie diabetics, those on regular doses of drugs such as interferon etc).

Anya.

By brother is an alcohol and drug consellor in rural Victoria, and as he sees it the problems in Oz are no different (for better or worse) than in the UK. Look carefully virtually anywhere in the Western world and you will see these problems.

Alastair

Totally agree with you Alastair

My husband is currently working on an acute admissions ward in Adelaide. He has worked all over the world in mental health, dealing with drug rehab amongst many other things. Australia is certainly no different or worse than the UK.

agree. sadly its everywhere. here in florida, at least in my neighborhood which is an average city, the schools and streets are full of it. and murders virtually every day because of drugs. we all need to do our utmost to be upfront with our children and let them know the horrors associated with drug use. its our only protection because it is everywhere. we are still hoping however that it may be SOMEWHAT less of a problem in a small town than it is here where we live.

Hi PP
How are you?

I was not suggesting that Australia was any different to anywhere else.
Just that it is the same as everywhere else.

Best wishes

G

Hello Grayling

We wont go in too deep as to how i am at the moment...lets just say i was cohersed into a alcoholic binge session yesterday and ive been up all night trying to recover :scared:

i know what you meant i was just agreeing with Alastair.

Can't speak for Melbourne, but Sydney's pretty bad. In Sydney's Northern Beaches, there appears to be a lot of drug use. Even worse, if you combine it with the surfie scene. Go down to any of the main beaches and play 'spot the needle'. It's very scary, when you've got small kids. It's not just the big cities - even the innocuous small country town : the youngsters are very bored and there isn't a lot to do except drink and (maybe) take drugs.

To be honest, one of the reasons we decided to return to the UK is the level of drug taking - and its relative acceptance - in Oz. Yes, I am liberal but not that liberal.

UK is by no means perfect, but we felt that by bringing our children back here, the risk of being exposed to drugs (hard and soft) was significantly lower.

Melbourne was labelled the Ecstasy capital of the world a couple of years back...but no doubt Manchester, Amsterdam, Miami, etc, were before that.

It's impossible to say whether UK is better or worse...like many people have said, it's everywhere. However, in Australia, I found it more 'in your face' - possibly because virtually every public toliet does have syringe boxes, and the newspapers have the daily heroin toll, etc...for me, it was more of a reality kick than the UK. I've never had to look at it as a parent before now...but I know it's not a subject you can avoid in either UK or Oz

I think the reason it may appear more in your face in OZ than it does in UK is because Oz has a very "outdoors" culture and people will tend to do this kind of thing (along with many others) out in public rather than UK, where it is more often done behind closed doors..not sure if its coz of the weather and warmer climate etc, or just a cultural difference...doesnt mean that it is any the less revalent in UK, just not seen as openly.

We live in exotic Ipswich, UK, about 200 metres from a methadone (spelling?) clinic. Bloke died in the public loo round the corner of an O.D..

Point is, wherever you go in a reasonable size town/ city you'll find drugs, whether it's the UK, OZ, US or whatever.

Gotta just try and find the nice area's to live in.

Paul.

I think its really important to discuss and know about these things - surely everyone does not want to only hear about the "flufy things" in Oz.

We have two kids and I really appreciate knowing about this - thank you.

and again here here,.....
still won't put me off though, my local village secondary school (where i went 20 odd years ago) has become a nightmare, really dreading my daughter going to school there in Sept this year and that has been a major influence in deciding to try an emigrate.
TP

Some posts on here I agree with and others I dont.
I think the Drug culture in Australia is no worse or better than in the Uk but there are differences.

Canabis, I've gotta be honest, I have smoked it but haven't for many years however I don't realy think it's the worse thing on this planet, In my opinion if you dont take the pee and get behind the wheel of a car after having a smoke then I really dont care what you do.

There are a lot of people who are very un-educated when it come to drugs to the point where I have heard people say that people jack up Canabis!!! (my own mother thought it was a white powder)

Cocaine is regularly taken by a huge ammount of people and a large percentage of these are middle class people who you wouldn't think for 1 second are hardcore drug takers, honestly wouldn't suprise me if your local GP(for example) was taking it. It's not all people living in squats robbing the old ladies to feed there next fix.

Ecstacy is £2-5 in the UK so easily affordable to kids, however in Australia I have heard that 1 tablet goes for up to $200, I'm pretty sure that at that price there are a lot more young people in the UK taking them on a regular basis than in Australia.

Basically what I am trying to say is that Drug use is a world wide problem and anyone using drugs as a reason to emigrate is in my opinion very nieve.

As a parent you should be educated on drugs so you do not assume everything that you read in the paper or see on the news is true. Each town/ county etc differs in Drug culture.

If you really know what you are talking about then you can pass that information on to kids without them thinking that you are just an overprotective parent who knows less about drugs than them.

Just my opinion
Kala

I don't think you need to live in a reasonable size town, we live in a very small town 20 miles from a large one, in South Devon. The council have put blue light bulbs in the public toilets to stop the needle users taking a fix in there. Lots of kids at the local school get pulled up for taking drugs at school.

It is everywhere we just need to educate our children about them and hope they listen.

Lindsey

An ecstasy pill is about $25 in the city, not $200, so very affordable to youngsters, and they are very easy to buy in Australia. Party drugs would worry me more as a parent than 'gotta get a fix' drugs like heroin.