Poison, you decide.

Rant time people, cmon you know you missed it!
IDEAS that illicit drugs offer insight into the universe, and subversive pleasures the authorities fear, were the established wisdom among supposedly radical thinkers a generation back. Even today there are those who argue for relaxed drug laws, equating all sorts of chemical stimulants with alcohol. Decriminalising drugs would reduce crime in the community, they say. Alcohol is also a drug, and we tolerate its effects, they argue. And of course people only turn to drugs because of social injustice. Arrant idiocy all. It is time to abandon any idea of expanding the ease with which people can take leave of their senses. Because evidence is accumulating that using illicit drugs, be it all-organic cannabis or fashionably edgy methamphetamines can mean madness, literally. In South Australia chief criminal psychiatrist Craig Raeside( someone i admire immensely) tracked 2000 prisoners over 10 years. He found 61 per cent of marijuana users among them, 71 per cent of amphetamine consumers and a staggering 95 per cent of people in prison who have used heroin had mental illnesses.Certainly there is an important question of causation in the connection between drug use and psychiatric disorders -- are people with pre-existing mental illnesses attracted to drugs, or does drug use create psychotic conditions? Perhaps the answer is a bit of both, but in many ways it does not matter. Drugs either make healthy people sick, or ill people worse. But whether the dope or the disaster of mental illness comes first, drug use does undoubted damage. The detailed dimensions of the dangers that accompany heavy consumption of marijuana are not yet fully understood. However, there is emerging evidence of a link between heavy marijuana consumption and schizophrenia among young users. And according to research from the Commonwealth Department of Health, around 20 per cent of young men use marijuana at least once a week. The explosion in use of methamphetamine, known to users as ice, is also alarming. Research shows that after cannabis, methamphetamines are the most commonly consumed drug in the country. Some 9 per cent of Australians have tried them and there are 73,000 dependent users across the country, compared to 45,000 or so heavy heroin users identified in 2002.
Ice, and the coalition of chemicals that have the same effect, are as dangerous to the physical and mental wellbeing of users as heroin. Methamphetamine users suffer poor physical health and statistics from Sydney show regular users are 11 times more likely to suffer psychosis. Between 1999 and 2004, the rate of hospital admission for methamphetamine induced psychotic attacks increased by 58 per cent. And, especially alarming, the centre says, psychosis is not restricted to users "who had a history of mental health disorders". Even worse, 25 per cent of those who suffer psychotic symptoms become violent. This is not a drug that opens any door to enlightenment. Rather it pushes users into an abyss of addiction and social dysfunction. Last week a major report into mental illness found enormous failings in the provision of community care since the end of the era of large mental hospitals. And now we are facing a new plague of drug induced illness, without the resources to help drug-addicted and mentally ill people in the community. As the evidence of the mental health impact of drug use mounts it is time we stopped pussy-footing over what to do about these plagues that take Australian lives and minds. We should view illicit drugs as what they are - poison.

till next time, Michelle.