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Here's David now.
Good morning everyone and thank you again Frances' for asking me to speak again today.
I'm happy to answer questions throughout the presentation
if people would like to stop me and if they are not clear on something.
I am going to keep the language at a level I hope everyone can follow.
Frances' has asked me to talk about drugs in the Northern suburbs.
I thought that the most interesting statistics that I could find and then
give you information about substance use.
Which are based on young people aged fourteen to nineteen.
The five most commonly used drugs in the northern suburbs
are alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, amphetamines and ecstasy.
Now the reason young people use drugs are pretty much for the same reasons that
older people use drugs.
Their reasons may be just to socialise.
A lot of the events that we have on our normal yearly calendar include Christmas
and it may be that young people decide that they also want to celebrate Christmas.
It's a way of interacting with other people.
It could also be peer pressure, everyone else is doing something
so they may be encouraged to... well... why not try that cigarette
or why not try something.
And they may bow to peer pressure and say "I'll give it a try".
Sometimes it's purely for relaxation or fun.
I did have a client a few years ago who was
addicted to *** and he came from a culturally
and linguistically diverse background and he was feeling the pressures of
just being around... he was the odd one out.
So his food was quite different, he would be bringing big sandwiches
rye bread sandwiches with salami and one of his friends said
to him "Well I can see you're stressed, maybe you should have a cigarette".
So it could be that the person just wanted to have a bit of a relax and just be able to fit in.
The other reason people use substances is because they are bored.
They've got nothing to do or the perceive that they've got nothing to do
so that they may be thinking if I do this I might not be so bored.
I myself am a smoker so sometimes for me even to sort of say ok well I
need to do something so I'll go out and have a cigarette.
It is the wrong thing to do, obviously I know that
because I am a drug and alcohol clinician.
But I still have this addiction where I can't control
the substance so I will actually go out and I will have a cigarette.
A lot of young people also as adults are just curious about a substance.
They've heard about something that perhaps gives them a particular warm feeling
or a good feeling, or allows them to talk.
Alcohol is supposed to be a lubricant to be able to speak when you are not able to.
So people may drink for that reason as well and young people are the same.
Just to fit in.
I did find you some statistics and what we have is a
national drug household survey that's done probably every three years.
And the last one was completed in 2010.
It showed that out of young people aged between 14 to 19
that 67% of those people have tried alcohol.
Which is a large percentage of the youth population.
Only 1 in 5 had tried cannabis.
12% had smoked tobacco and only 7% of that group
smoked cigarettes on a daily basis.
The campaigns we are having out in public
are proving to be effective. That young people are less likely to take up
cigarette smoking at an early age.
The things that most people are concerned about in our society
are amphetamines use and ecstasy.
Amphetamines have been tried by about 2% of young people.
And 4.7% had tried ecstasy.
So I think the message is starting to get across about the harmful effects.
Today also I wanted to give you an overview of the harmful effects
and where to find some support for yourselves and your young people
if you have any in your care or know of anyone.
There are a number of names, and I wanted to give you an idea of the cost associated with the drugs.
So the cheapest form of alcohol that you can purchase
in youth terms is Agune.
Which is a cask of wine, usually 4-5 litres and that is a cost of around 10 dollars.
So it's not un-affordable for young people.
It only becomes a problem when we think about my clients and my client group
that may be drinking two or three of those a day.
Which is a lot of alcohol and then it may impact on other areas of their life.
If someone is on New Start allowance or a Centrelink type benefit it's not a huge amount of money.
So if we are taking out of that somewhere about 30 dollars a day
7 days a week we are already looking at 210 dollars being put towards alcohol.
This is out of a fortnightly payment of 480 dollars or there about. It may have gone up.
So there is still rent and food to come out of that.
So it can have a huge impact on peoples lives.
Cannabis is approximately 15 dollars a gram.
Now that may not mean a lot to you, what is a gram of cannabis.
Well that will make about 2 cigarettes that you could smoke known as joints.
A packet of cigarettes for a young person is about 20 dollars for about 30 cigarettes.
Which is now coming to the point where it is becoming exclusive and expensive.
You'll notice that a lot of the robberies that go on around town in 7/11's
they are trying to steal money and cigarettes.
Because cigarettes are a great form of transforming it back into cash very quickly.
Amphetamine is probably about 65 dollars a gram.
Which would be one injection.
Ecstasy tablets range between 5 and 10 dollars per tablet.
So a lot of the drugs our teenagers are using aren't
overly expensive if they have access to funds.
There are obviously harmful effects to every single substance we take
that we are not meant to take.
Harmful effects of alcohol include slurred speech, drowsiness, vomiting, diarrhea,
upset tummies, headaches. And there's a whole lot more, breathing difficulties
distorted vision, hearing and the impaired judgement.
It's the impaired judgement that sticks out for me greatly with young people.
Having once been a young person I didn't excessively drink and I no longer do drink
and that's because I like to be aware of my surroundings at all times.
So I'm not a drug taker besides my caffeine and nicotine.
I have noticed that young people today are going out a lot later than when
I would go out, I would go out at 7 or 8 o'clock at night
and I would probably be home at about 12 or 1 o'clock
with fairly strict parents.
Young people aren't getting ready until about 9 or 10 o'clock
and are going out quite late.
The way they perceive themselves at that particular time, the ladies have
done their makeup and their hair and put on all of their clothes nicely and neatly.
The same with the young gentlemen. They will have put their nice pants on
and make sure they are all looking shaped
and quite good. As they progress into drinking
if they have started prior to attending a venue which is now the
common thing that is going on because alcohol
is so expensive in clubs. Then young people will drink before they go.
Where they go and buy a four liter cask of wine and get themselves
fairly intoxicated and then hit a club where they will only
need to buy one or two drinks to top up.
The issue arises though that people don't see themselves changing.
So that by 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning if they are still in a club
and they are off to the bathroom to possibly fix up or refresh their makeup
I suppose is a good word, they see themselves as
they were when they first started getting ready.
So they can't really see themselves.
Now normally a young lady will be putting on her makeup very neatly
and all the eye shadow and so on. But when they
at one o'clock in the morning they have lost their perception of reality.
So they'll more likely be putting their lipstick on a bit like this.
And the make will be all over their face and they won't look that great.
This is the opportunity where young people may end up in risky behaviour.
So they may be having *** relations with somebody that they are unaware of.
Also for the fellas this is where the fights start
they still see themselves as they did prior to getting ready.
So alcohol not only has an impact as far as doing damage
to themselves it may also have an impact on them doing damage to their physical being as well.
So alcohol still is the greatest presentation to
alcohol and other drugs services.
We see a lot of other things being talked about on television.
Amphetamines, we have epidemics. But the truth of the matter is that
alcohol is still the greatest damage to Australian society today.
And the associated deaths by alcohol are second only to cigarettes.
The greatest number of deaths associated to substance use is tobacco.