karawara88

traceyw I think you misread the post, it did not say "NSW has a problem with teenage drinkers, because they have tried alcohol", it was in connection with underage drink abuse not occasional drinky poos at lunch and it said.

In a recent survey of schools in Port Macquarie, NSW - 80 per cent of 14 and 15-year- olds admitted to drinking alcohol in the previous fortnight and in many cases they were supplied alcohol by parents, older siblings and friends.

and as you rightly said which makes the above even more shocking as it suggests kids are being supplied the alcohol by parents.

As for your statement There is a difference in the cultures, children in France and Spain are brought up to appreciate wine and respect it, which is totally different to the beer culture of throwing as much down your neck as possible to get drunk.

Paul&Ann-Marie

I have never seen anyone fighting all and sundry whilst being stoned,Compared to the number of fights seen outside many nightclubs across the land caused by too much alcohol.

Money related crimes, ie: burglary, seem to stem from more serious drug addiction problems.

Cannabis is " habitual " in that it is habit forming, it is not however addictive like heroin / cocaine etc.

I can't recall the last time someone knocked off a convenience store to score some weed.

I smoked weed every day for over 2 years then decided to give it a rest and went 7 months without a single joint therfor i KNOW it is not addictive.Which may explain why the laws towards cannabis are lighter than those towards heroin etc.
I have tried just about every drug available at some point in my life and have to say the only thing i would take now would be weed.
Not trying to promote weed but just feel sad when people tear into it as " it's a drug, therfor deadly and will screw up your life " when they have never experienced what they are referring to.

In my opinion, alcohol is a far more dangerous drug than cannabis due to the aggression it can generate, addiction and liver damage caused.

I believe the only side effects from cannabis are the increase in tar ( pure resin = 4 times a cigarette ) and depression later in life ( probably caused by all your dealers dying before you and having no source for any more )

Paul

dibrucewillis

Yeah but I didn't have to rob or mug anybody to pay for my "habit"

The Koalas

NSW is the same. I lived in Merrylands western suburbs of Sydney and I could not belive the amount of needles thrown everywhere at the train stations, in the gutters, in Sydney city and witnessed all to often druggies shooting up on the train station. Disposal boxes are common sights in toilets. In one shopping centre in Brisbane its public toilets have ultra violet lights apparantly these are there to deter druggies because their veins can not be seen under the light. Drug dealers all around the station entrance and druggies passed out on the trains. I lived in Holland for 4 years and considering people shudder at the thought of Holland and its drug problems it is safely controled and moniterd. I never once saw any syringes in the streets, druggies on the streets passed out and only once got offered drugs and that was one New Years eve. Australia has its drug problems as every other country and until they aknowledge and address it then it will go on getting worse.

karawara88

How can you say that you KNOW its not addictive. Using your argument, I know people who have given up smoking for years, then started again, could they then say they KNOW smoking is not addictive because they gave up. It might not be addictive for YOU but for others it might be a different story.

The Koalas

Totaly agree, there is a difference to sitting down for a meal and having a glass of wine. In France and Spain it has always been apart of thier way of life. Would hardly class the cultures the same as drunken yobs.

Paul&Ann-Marie

Have you ever given up smoking ?

Always irritable, the cravings etc slowly fading over time...............................is this not what is called going cold turkey ?

Cigarettes are addictive, this is caused by the nicotine ( addictive drug included in ciggies ) and therfor when you quit you go cold turkey.

Quitting cannabis is NOT the same, therfor i believe NO comparrisons can be drawn between quitting smoking cigarettes and quitting smoking pot.

Paul

karawara88

I have never smoked and never taken any drugs and therefore I am unable to compare either, and maybe the comparison is a bad one, however I still challenge your saying you KNOW its not addictive because you gave up. You are able to give up as and when you like, thats not to say everyone can. Anything you do for a period of time becomes habitiual and any habit is often very difficult to stop. Like posting on this bloody forum at 3 in the morning.

Paul&Ann-Marie

lol, yes , this is an addictive forum, perhaps more so than the subject in question.

I am not trying to glorify cannabis, i HAVE done a little research into it's effects however ( wanted to know just WHAT i was doing to myself ) and found that it is NOT addictive, this is why i made my comment.

The whole drugs issue is a very hot potato with some believing it is truly " one drug,all drugs " and it was to this that i was referring.

Drugs are commonplace throughout the world and all i'm saying is that some drugs are worse than others.

Taken from an official website :


Is cannabis addictive?



No. Cannabis produces no withdrawal symptoms no matter how heavily it is smoked. It is habit forming (psychologically addictive), but not physically addictive.

For a drug to be physically addictive, it must be reinforcing, produce withdrawal symptoms, and produce tolerance. Marijuana is reinforcing, because it feels good, but it does not do the other two things.

Caffeine, nicotine and alcohol are all physically addictive.


Again, it has it's lows too.The above is just in response to it's addictiveness claim.

Paul.

dotty

If OZ does not have its share of drug problems then why are the following stories news worthy this week. Big haul of E's for school leavers week. Kids chroming and the responsibility of shop owners in selling spray paint. Pot appearing in Primary schools. Why also do we have needle disposal boxes just about everywhere you go.

Of course there are certain areas where these problems are concentrated, however it can crop up anywhere. I would never let a small kid go to a park without shoes here never.

Its does not really matter whether you want to discuss, car theft burglary drugs sickos perverts murders or wife bashers the fact is as much as some people want to hope OZ will provide an escape from these matters the reality is OZ is not a miracle nation it did not escape pumping out the same bad element of the population as anywhere else!

bondipom

This country has piles and piles of cheap high quality weed. It is readily avalable to any kiddy and is far more potent than most of what is available in the UK.

I used to be a tobacco and weed smoker and found the addictiveness different. I ate tonnes on giving up smoking and became incredibly fidgety.

On giving up the weed sleep became a problem. Fortunateley I never smoked enough to develop the mental problems (I hope anyway) that can develop.

The problems with alcohol are horrendous. There are the fights, the family abuse, car crashes and liver damage. An drunk may not steal from your house but they might punch your head in or kill you in a car crash.

Substance abuse of any kind has negative affects. All the drugs will always be obtainable at some point to kids so education is the only option.

HiddenPaw

Every day in the newspaper we have two statisitcs published in big print: 1 - Road Death Toll; 2 - Heroin Death Toll (the road toll is about 4x worse than the heroin toll)

Dotty is right - there are drug-related articles every single day in the paper, be they drug haul, murder related to drug dealing, drug overdose, illegal use, etc etc (there are 2 in today's Herald Sun.)

Oz is no different to the UK in that drug problems exist all around us.

renth

The loos in the brand new and fantatsic Maritime Museum in Fremantle have needle bins. I was surprised to see this as you have to pay to get in to the museum just to get to these loos.

I reckon they are mainly for diabetics.

Wol

It's a distinct possibility. I reckon there's a good argument to be made for legalising it all and letting people screw up their brains if that's the life they want.

If it cleared up a lot of the burglaries and muggings and drove the dealers somewhere else because they couldn't make the money it might be worth it. I really don't know.

Whether the argument helps that much on this forum is debateable though!

bondipom

There is a lot of crap cut with the heroin which if removed would improve the health of smack heads. Sadly there is little society can do to un hook addicts. Prevention by education and improving the lot for the growers in Afghanistan and Burma are the few options.