Sunlover

Firstly let me stress that I have not had a sheltered life and have lived and worked in many places around the world. I've also seen plenty of evidence of drug addiction in those places.
(I used to be accosted daily by junkies at Kings Cross station in London asking for money "for the loo").

However today I saw something that just seemed really shocking - perhaps because it is was right in the middle of Adelaide which seems so much like a big country town, and perhaps because of the time of day - 1pm on a sunny Summer afternoon on Grenfell Street - filled with people on their lunch breaks, doing their Christmas shopping, pushing their babies in prams etc.

A young good looking couple were staggering along the sidewalk bashing into poles, signs and other people while they both sucked on filthy old towels obviously concealing glue or petrol or something else that they were using to get totally out of their minds. I'm not sure why they insisted on walking along instead of sitting down in a dinghy hole somewhere, because they were a total menace to themselves and everyone else.

No one else seemed very surprised at all - which seemed odd considering this is a town where everyone knows everyone else's business. I hope this doesn't mean that it's so common that
no one cares. Youth unemployment is so high here (no pun intended), I am sure it also increases the amount of drug abuse - especially cheap stuff like glue, thinners etc. which actually do more physical and mental damage and kill quicker than narcotics.

PeterAndSue

If you had seen this in London you may not have given it a second glance
but because it was somewhere where you least expected it, it stuck out like a sore thumb.
Also other peoples reaction was not what you would have expected.

Vee

Did you do anything about it? Do you care?

Did this ruin your day? Should all people with problems (mental, physical, drug) just go into a "dinghy hole" somewhere?

I'm sure these people weren't out to ruin everyone's perfect summer day.

Sorry, but I don't really appreciate the tone of your remarks. I think that people who have a problem shouldn't be looked down on.

And would you have noticed them so much if they weren't

PeterAndSue

Vee,
Never mind if you didn't appreciate Spiders TONE you will no doubt get over it.
The tone seemed to me more surprise at the incident rather than heartlessness.

Vee

surprised that there is a drug problem in Adelaide? Or surprised that it could happen to a young, good looking couple in Adelaide? Or surprised that no one did anything about it? Or that it happened on a nice day while people were going on about their "normal" day to day activities?

I just don't like what Sunlover was implying....that people with a drug problem should be in a "dinghy hole" somewhere.

WBB

i think they had been evicted from the hole they shared by saddam hussein.

dugongs

i've lived in london on and off for a long time and have never seen anything as bad as this.

however the chances of being a victim to crime in oz are 1 in 3 apparently (far higher than uk) and therefore this sort of event is more likely to happen there than in the uk.

better had get used to it i guess. my wife comes from adelaide and she says the drug culture there is a huge problem as the kids have nothing to do so end up getting into drugs and trouble.

steandleigh

Drugs are everywhere, wherever you may be.

Educate yourselfs and your kids and hope for the best, that's all you can do.

noodle

Sunlover

I am not suprised that you were suprised at seeing that.

In answer to Vee, what the hell was he to do about it? And obviously he cared about the fact that things like that were going on otherwise he wouldn't have told us about it. I'm sure it wasn't a reflection on adelaide itself as it could have happened anywhere.

I myself have had phsical, and mental abuse, have spent years in care and have also taken drugs. It wasn't up[ to strangers to sort me out, or to care. I have seen people off their heads on all sorts, including glue, where they don't know what they are doing at all. I know now if I saw someone in that state that I too would be upset and concerned, but what on earth would you expect someone to do about it?

Most of us have had pretty horrible problems, and I have had many, and although I have taken drugs for recreational use, I have been offered and refused to take heroin and crack, because not only are they anti-social, they are addictive and everyone I know has been addicted since they had taken it, and they should be left alone in a dinghy hole somewhere. I am not heartless, and I know that there are a lot worse people out there than myself, but they are stuiped to get involved in that shit and have caused themselves a loaad of problems that they will never get away from.

I'm sure these people weren't out to ruin anyones day, but how do you explain that to your children. They shouldn't have to see it, because these people shoud not parade their drunken/drugged up state in the middle of town.

By the way, where did sunlover actually look down on these people?

Noodle

bondipom

Thats is what they have done in the X. The nickname is the shooting alley. It means the heroin addicts OD in a controlled environment rather than in a doorway.

Vee as an advovate of recreational drug use what do you suggest?

Seeing people off their face and wrecking their lives is disturbing.

jopaulss

Well yeah can you educate your kids to a point , but now we have to educate further !!! Now we have to say " when you go down a slide in a childs playarea make sure you check the bottom first in the sand , to make sure no one has delibratley pput syringes needle end up at the bottom " There are some really sick people around , this was in a suburb in perth this week , luckily they were spotted before anyone came to harm.
God how far do you have to take educatio!!!!
Joanne

podgypossum

This is no different to scenes in every big (and small) town all over the world. Very sad , but true.

My husband has worked in drug rehab in quite a few different cities and also in Bermuda which is considered a very high class and rich persons place to live. It matters not, where you are or your "class" or position in life. Many drug addicts come from high places!!

Sunlover, the reason they may have been staggering down the street is because they were that high they had no idea what they were doing. They may well have BEEN in their dinghy hole and crawled out after getting so high.
The best thing anyone could have done was ring hte police so that they hopefully got admitted to somewhere for help. But i bet no one bothered.
Who knows, one of the reasons they have got to that point is because no one has "bothered" or cared about them for a very long time!!!

Most people prefer to poke fun, make jokes, and dismiss them as if they are somehow not human and not worthy of anything but contempt and ridicule. But when i see this reaction, it makes ME look at the perpetrator. Are you so uncomfortable in your own skin that pointing the finger at someone else takes the attention off you, and makes YOU feel better??
I am not pointing these remarks at anyone here in particular, its just my observations of the human race in general, and it doesnt just apply to drug addicts, but anone else in society who doesnt fit the "norm" or sits outside the "square".


Oh!!...one last thing....i'm not being patronising (been accsed of that on here once before!!) just telling how i see these things.

janeyray

Maybe what Sunlover was saying, is that lots of people migrating to OZ to get away from so called 'nasties' in the UK may be shocked to find that it does happen and is openly seen here?

I to lived in London for many years and never saw anything like this. Here I have seen it and have been made more aware of the 'dirty needle' situation, maybe they are just more open about drugs here?. It happens all over and there are drugs everywhere, even in OZ!

mashiraz

I've seen more 'Dispose of syringes carefully' boxes in Adelaide public loos than anywhere else, especially UK.

Whether it's because there is a bigger problem, or Adelaide just takes more action, I don't know...

It's just an observation

Mash...

yvsie

I have been a nurse for many years but not had much involvment with drug misuse. I always thought (even though I have a medical background) that it would never effect me at all other than possibly in a work situation.
My kids tell me that when we were in the Uk there was access to various drugs through people that they knew at school!!!.
Fortunately my kids (so far) havent got involved in hard drugs although my son tells me that he has tried dope:scared: :scared: ..but at least he has told me!!
We as a family had the shock of our lives last year when my brother aged 44 died of 'non addictive drug misuse'..that was the title they gave it at the coroners court anyway. He had been using cocaine and none of his family knew of his behaviour at all, although his friends did ofcourse because they used with him!. He went into acute heart failure and arrested in bed 36hrs AFTER he had last used(or so his friends say!!). We told our kids all the nitty gritty and hope that some kind of good will come from a terribly shocking family event.
What Im doing really is sharing something with you all and trying to say that I dont think that I personally could be shocked much more by drug misuse..unless ofcourse my kids get involved..which would be very difficult to deal with as a parent..but then again we may not know until it was too late??!!
I also think that it must be difficult to have younger children who do go to parks etc because of the unsafe disposal of used needles....etc etc...I did have some parents bring a 2 yr old child who had put her hand into a bin at a local train station and suffered a needle stick injury..she had to be given hep b vaccine ..so at least most of the kids in oz get this with their primary vaccinations and should be protected...