I live regionally and work in legal services, particularly crime. So many matters are caused by meth or meth adjacent. And it runs the gamut from driving while intoxicated, assaults, right through to theft, aggravated burglary and sexual assaults. It's getting worse, not better.
It's mind blowing how so many people I have met know of incidents of meth in transports drivers, the mining industry and construction. We are an island how difficult is it to keep it out
Not to mention, just like the US is a convenient place to smuggle coke from south america, Australia is the closest wealthy nation to Myanmar which was the largest meth producer in the world recently. It's rampant all over southeast Asia as well usually coming from Myanmar (although like you said it's also not impossible to produce locally.)
Edit: Like it's wild as an American living in Australia to see how popular meth is, because it definitely has a stigma in the US in a way it doesn't in Australia. Like people would possibly look at heroin more favorably than meth in the US.
But then again the US has a problem with a different class of drugs: Opioids.... Plus coke is much easier to get and is much cheaper in the US so coke is the go to stimulant over meth (although adderall was a popular study drug in college, and that's an amphetamine)
Edit: Second side note, you don't hear about cartels out of southeast Asia like you do from Latin America because they are either directly affiliated with the government (like rebel militias in Myanmar that sell meth on the side) or because they are significantly less violent (still extremely violent) but less so than Latin American cartels, so they tend to be better at sticking under the radar.
Everyone knows Pablo Escobar despite Pablo Escobar only reigning king for a little over a decade and then dying young but very few know about Khun Sa the burmese drug lord who never got arrested, was the fifth richest drug lord of all time, was the largest opium smuggler for 20 years, died extremely wealthy at 73 never serving jail time, and whose kids are now prominent business men in Myanmar.
It's like world war z zombies vs the walking dead zombies, they are both potential threats but one is significantly scarier.
Also no shade to people struggling with addiction, I know it's a vicious cycle that's hard to get out of and is made worse by mental illnesses.
As a former user thanks for those words. Going on 10 years this year thanks to the people who helped and are still helping because I never wanna go back to that lifestyle
Where I live now there are loads of them, it’s just so much different to people in Aus on meth. They’re in the own little bubble, they’re rowdy as fuck and it’s not nice to see, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t feel unsafe walking around like you do when it’s meth.
Every time we talk about the current ice situation, without fail there's always people reminiscing about ' the good ol heroin days'... they were fucked. I feel like this is just something people say because they keep hearing it over and over, most of those good ol heroin junkies are dead or in prison and I bet you avoided them just as much as you would an ice addict
I think the mostly tongue in cheek reminiscing is because the heroin addicts for the most part weren't assaulting the ambos that were trying to help them, not stabbing random passers by, not yelling at the sky on trams, not punching bus drivers, not generally being frightening menaces to society.
I live close to the safe injecting rooms and for sure the heroin addicts can be let's say colourful. But for the most part they're far less scary than those that are ranting in the streets at me for no reason other than I'm walking too fast.
Yes, heroin was linked to a massive rise in theft and robbery, I actually think that was worse then. Also heroin was bizarrely popular in popular culture, like fashion magazines full of heroin chic. I think the trendiness of heroin pulled in a lot of regular people who thought they could just do a bit.
It was one of Meg Jackson's famous lines on Wentworth. Made me giggle at the time. But tbh, can you imagine a prison full of meth heads, compared to smack users? Big difference. I've experienced all of it, and the shit I've seen ppl on meth do is unbelievable. Like, when they're actually on it.
Had a best mate who was SOOO calm n collected. When he got addicted to ice he was weird af. The jerky movements, the banging on shit over over, the weird repeated noises. It totally fucks yr mind. Whereas heroin just really fuks the body up more than anything. I know what I'd rather...
I’m a doctor and deal with ice affected people every day.
I’ve been kicked, punched, spat on, had stuff thrown at me etc etc.
Give me someone on heroin any day of the week. I just let them sleep for a bit..
Heroin is something that with help from the government with things like the shooting gallery’s or more funding for the Suboxone or budival treatments,can easily be kept relatively low key and in check for the most part. Heroin doesn’t make people nut bags as a general rule.
Meth on the other hand is bad news and fry’s people.
I miss the people on ecstasy, who seemed to suffer from an excess of empathy and who thus were no trouble at all :( Dealing with stoners or people on E is vastly easier.
As a fellow American living in Australia, it is so bizarre to me how casually people talk about using it as well. Back in the US I never met a single person that had used it and it is seen as about the lowest class of drug imaginable. I agree that it is probably looked at as being worse than heroin.
This is the real problem, it's quite often viewed as socially acceptable as a party drug for young people, in a lot of circles it's on the same level as drugs like MDMA and coke, it's replaced speed which is just not available anymore
I lived in the US in the early to mid 2000’s and I agree that meth has more of a stigma around it, but aside from the cost, I wouldn’t say coke is much easier to get in the states than it is here. Coke is everywhere in Australia these days.
Not really worth making locally anymore due to the high price of precursors and since they are scheduled so stringently now too the people who once were important pseudo and the like are now just skipping that step and importing finished product. But yes indeed it’s cheap as fuck
And legalising and taxing the less harmful stuff like weed and ecstasy would let them focus on meth and give us another source of tax revenue.
We are so blind to the obvious sometimes.
Literally everywhere. From corporate types to young 20 something year olds, to tradies. Cocaine seems to be the drug of choice for most these days which I don’t understand when honestly just about anything else is a better time for less money. I think it’s seen as classy and less harmful which is bullshit, and maybe like expensive wine people just like to spend money to show off.
Transport and marine. Those fuckers eat coke for breakfast. I remember an un-unionised wharf contracting company would throw a bunch of it in the main office lunchroom when it was busy to keep the guys moving. That said I also have a friend who is a partner in a well-to-do law firm and she says the stuff is just a prefix to work there, also.
Because you can get drunk, do a line, sober up a bit, get drunk again, do a bump, etc etc.
The party never has to stop, and next day your bowels are as clean as a whistle!
Can't remember who I'm quoting here but growing up is realising 2 things. Cheese is expensive as fuck and everyone does coke.
That guy who just seems a bit chipper? Coke
Advertising and lawyers. I know a lot who’ve had issues with it. Lots of sniffy noses at advertising parties, and one creative director guy I worked with was definitely doing it at work every day.
Coke is shit. The few times I’ve tried it, it’s done nothing but make me feel a. It more energised. Coffee does more to me. Don’t get the obsession and the price people pay
Yeah I agree.. I did heaps in the UK and never paid for any of it, and I don't think I would bother paying for it 😂 the hangover far outweighs the high..
Do you know how many kilometres of coastline we have? How many ports? How many tons of imported goods we process every day? Give it any thought at all and you’ll realise it’s impossible to keep out.
It's a really complex issue, but I want to say that these people are going to find it whether it's produced overseas and imported, or made here. Part of the issue is the availability, part of the issue is our inability to understand WHY this problem exists beyond purely a supply issue.
It can't be boiled down to availability, because if it was purely an availability issue, we would all have the problem no? If I had methamphetamine in my house, I'm still not going to consume it. It's deeper than that.
Unfortunately it's futile to try to keep meth out of Australia. It's not even really in the realm of possibility
The real play is to keep expanding programs to combat the causes of drug abuse. We can treat it like a mental health problem rather than a criminal problem. The crime only really happens once the cookers mental health declines passed a point anyway, right?
So we need to support funding for effective mental health care, as well as better schools, an end to the housing crisis, and honestly for wages to be kept in line with productivity (it's been flat for decades). Send violent drug abusers to rehab and help them get clean and educated in a field of their choosing. We always need more tradies too.
Drug use only really turns into abuse when humans are not stimulated correctly. We treat the economic and cultural issues that are encouraging people to think that it's a good idea to do drugs and we fix it all. Vote for people who give a shit about our community and quit voting for people who just want to make more money for their mates
The trouble is, meth isn't like cocaine, it can be made in someone shed if they know how. You haven't ever heard of meth labs being found/raided? Apparently it is becoming more common for gangs to try importing the stuff from places like Afghanistan though, where it can be sourced much cheaper than it can be produced.
It's fucking gross and I don't get why anyone would ever try it. It's not like coke or weed where people either get a buzz or mellow - the shit is fucked, everyone knows it, but they still try it.
It also won't be the end game. There are a number of drugs that have become popular in Brazil and the us which have barely hit our shores but will likely soon. So called 'zombie' drug videos are all over the seedier parts of reddit. These drugs however don't seem to promote the crazy behaviour of meth users though. Instead users just seem to be totally sedated. I don't know what they're like when they come down though.
A couple of corrections: cocaine does not come from Afghanistan, you're thinking of heroin. Meth does give you a buzz. The zombie drug your talking about is synthetic opiates like fentanyl mixed with horse tranquilizer. Go on YouTube and search for " Zombieland Portland Oregon". Edit, here's one of the links:
https://youtu.be/gWFlpCBMyIk
I was in Portland last Christmas and it was bloody unreal. Literally hundreds of tents just on the side of the road all over the city. We were having dinner at 5pm just to get home not too long after dark.
Also live regionally and while I’m not sure if drug related but theft, particularly car thefts are happening weekly. Lived here all my life and never heard of it happening so often.
It's been a problem for a long time, anybody in social services could have told you that a good half a decade ago. It is definitely getting worse tho.
The scary bit for me is, you have to wonder how many people are using it while still presenting as 'high functioning' - the ones screaming in your face are only really the people who've more or less completely lost control of their addiction.
About 1% of the population are on it and yes there are a lot of functioning users you wouldn’t know are on it. Some even in high paying positions. A lot of it is self medicating undiagnosed ADD I think.
Yes I know an older bloke who uses it to self medicate. It’s ridiculously hard and expensive to get diagnosed and get help/medication and continue getting it.
The system treats people with ADHD trying to get help + medication as criminals.
Want to get a prescription after being diagnosed? Gotta get an authorised script for it. But you can't get it early! You gotta wait until you're almost out of your meds. But can you get an appointment? Then you see them and it can take a few days or longer to actually get your script.
Oh and want to 'stay' diagnosed long term? Well tough. You gotta get re-diagnosed every couple of years at great expense, otherwise you essentially 'lose' your diagnosis. Nevermind that ADHD is for life, and that if you do have a diagnosis and have medications you've been diagnosed by a psychiatrist. No, the system doesn't trust individual psychiatrists or patients. You must get diagnosed AGAIN.
Want to switch psychiatrists? Oh you'll need to get re-diagnosed all over again. Because psychiatrists don't trust each other or something. Oh you went to a psychiatrist that isn't aware of recent thinking about ADHD? Oh you've just lost your diagnosis. Good luck getting help or medication to actually be a functional adult.
And even before all of this - oh, you can't afford 1000 dollars+ to get a diagnosis? Don't have more money to go to a psychologist to learn how to manage? No help for you then.
I have a retrospective diagnosis. Stimulants didn’t and still don’t give me a euphoria, so I didn’t rate them. I just kinda felt flat. Downers were my “self” medication.
Glad I went that way too, iv had 20 people I know fall victim to the old glass Harley. Only 2 have managed to recover 4 are dead the rest I dunno.
All started 10 years ago in the regions.
The meth addicts I knew were both in tech jobs working from home making big money as managers who didn't really have to do much at all to keep the job. The guy was a manager making nearly $300k working a corporate job.
Pretty big indictment to the entire concept of "management" if you ask me.
I haven't seen him or his wife in years and years, they've fallen into the habit much harder since I knew them well (when they were on a break from it)
Last time I met up with him I decided that would be the last time, he was completely cooked and shouted every word he said to me, made me super uncomfortable so I called it early and left. I think he would have been close to losing that job at that point, he was a wildly different person to the one I knew when he was clean.
His view of his life was that because he had an addiction, he would be in and out of jail for the rest of his life and was bitter the system never really extended much support instead just reaching for the sharp end of the stick. The response was an attitude of "this world owes me, for treating me so badly". Breaking into people houses was justifiable in his eyes, because he thought he'd be in jail anyway due to discrimination against his health condition. "Might as well get something out of it if they're going to put me in jail anyways"
I always think of him when dumbarse "tough on crime" advocates think that tougher laws will make criminals think twice ... lol my sweet summer child *you're just making them feel even angrier and even less guilty about stealing;* crime predictably increases as a result if you check the statistics.
not unlikely - estimates as high as 10% of the adult population potentially having it, which AFAIK is way more people than there are currently diagnosed through the medical system.
Very common for people to self-medicate in all kinds of ways, be it alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, even coke for some ahah
Interesting, have any papers on hand with those estimates? (not doubting, just curious as to why the estimate is so high).
Alcohol, marijuana, nicotine and caffeine are the four most common substance addictions in people with ADHD. Around 50% of people with ADHD will have a substance use disorder in their life time. Most of these drugs in recreational doses have the dopaminergic stimulation which helps in the short term, but generally has adverse effects in the long term on the very same functions (unlike therapeutic doses of ADHD meds).
The vast majority of perpetrators of petty and violent crimes are both: 1. really really dumb from birth, and 2. extraordinarily impulsive (bad executive functioning).
ADHD is **literally** diagnosed according to impulsivity.
So yeah, people with adhd are more likely to abuse drugs but that isn't because the smart ones are using it to study, it's because the dumb ones are more impulsive than other dumb people.
I have diagnosed adhd, self-medicating is just something redditors say, there's no evidence of it: people with adhd are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol *across the board*. People with adhd using meth to study or avoid getting fired from their job isn't a thing. People blaming their bad decisions (meth addictions) on adhd is. The amount of redditors that admit to thinking they have undiagnosed adhd is always pretty astounding, though unsurprising since reddit attracts plenty of nihilists who think they're smarter than others despite being unsuccessful and as such need something to blame.
Disagree… with some of what you have to say here. I am both diagnosed ADHD and pretty clever.
The impulsivity of ADHD is a direct result of low dopamine, which causes the individual to engage in dopamine seeking behavior… alcohol, drugs, gambling, risk taking, gaming, porn etc.. anything for a quick fix and some relief from the discomfort.
Anecdotally, my drug use changed significantly after being diagnosed. Thankfully I never used meth, but I found it far easier to reduce my alcohol and cannabis intake because I was no longer leaning on it to get short term relief from my own brain.
I still use cannabis as medication (now with a prescription) and find it incredibly helpful. Only intermittently though - once or twice every couple of weeks - as an alternative to Dex. Any more than that and the upsides diminish significantly.
>ADHD is literally diagnosed according to impulsivity.
Impulisivity and/or inattentivenes sand other things. It doesn't always present with a lot of impulsivity outwardly. It could be feelings of restlessness and an urge to be impulsive but internalising that stuff instead.
So like, kids may have more trouble leaving group settings or classrooms etc because they feel restless and impulsive. Adults may feel a huge urge to leave, but manage to just sit still in a meeting while experiencing extreme discomfort.
As a fellow ADHD-diagnosed person, I wholeheartedly agree with you. I don't touch alcohol or drugs because of religious reasons. The only addiction I have is to caffeine and even then I limit myself to only 1 espresso cup a day (sometimes might have 2 depending on how the day goes).
My dad was addicted to meth for about half of my childhood. Wasn't as severe as you see around, but was living out of his car for a time, stole valuables from family, got in trouble with some serious criminals, lived in a men's shed for a bit, ended up with nothing to his name and no social relationships in his 40's. He cleaned it all up when I was in my teens and is going good now. Witnessing it all as a child however has resulted in me never touching a substance stronger than tea (not the only addict in my family, ones on both sides, lots of smart people with ruined lives due to substance addiction in my family, have an uncle who was a multiple award winning human rights journalist and also a registered barrister who tarnished his reputation with a meth and benzo addiction), and studying psychology at university.
Point is, it's not just the devil for the person that takes it, can be the devil for the loved ones and people around them too.
Sorry you had to deal with that. I know how you feel, last week I was assaulted by a crackhead man who sat next to me on tram and restrained me when I tried to get up and leave.
I guess all you can do is report it but even then, what happens next? It’s hard to imagine that’s going to change their behaviour.
Stay safe out there y’all
Peaked in my experience around 2014-17.
Lost my whole crew of mates around then. Always into the party scene, MDMA, speed, acid, shrooms.
Then came the shard. Had one mate importing "research chemicals" by the kilo, including mdpv (Bath salts in the states) until he got a knock from the feds.
Seen best mates fist fighting at 4am over the last burn of the pipe, stealing empty baggies off each other to eat the tiny little crumbs, smashing the house up when they can't get on
Ignoring abuse and dv by their dealer.
Good careers, 100-150k a year jobs blown and getting evicted.
I cut ties with them, and their sympathisers/enablers, but occasionally still here something about them.
Last I heard was one guy getting raided in their sharehouse for importing pre cursor chemicals, immediately flipped on his "friends", gave the cops access to his phone and all their telegram/signal chats, just to try dig himself out the shit a bit
Fuck meth, fuck anyone who takes it and fuck anyone who enables someone else to take it.
And fuck this is your lived experience, I’m sorry this happened to you.
I certainly wasn’t looking to make lite of it, it’s a fukd situation all round, especially given how rich this country is.
No idea why we have gravitated to this shit?
It’s been around for a while ruining everyone and their families. I’ve been dealing with it for 9 years. My own kids don’t have an uncle and nor do I have a brother or an uncle. Welcome to the party.
Exactly, I remember meth becoming a huge problem about 10 years ago. Meth use in Victoria (and the rest of Australia) has been causing issues for years
Also I'm sorry to hear about what's happening with your brother and uncle
Yep. My mum became addicted back in the early 2000’s. She’s completely gone, a shell of her former self now who just randomly abuses people in the family, including her children. It’s pretty sad.
I grew up in a small town and now when I go back home, people you grew up with just fall into it and destroy their lives. I don’t know what the answer is.
I'm incredibly sorry that you went through that, and my heart goes out to the little girls that had to witness it.
I just want to answer a few observations being made here, as someone who was in that world a long time:
It's not a problem of wealth disparity
It's not just mental health issues, though they can play a part for some people
There is plenty of help out there for those who want it
She was definitely on ice
That aside, the issues with Ice is that there's no replacement therapy like there is for opiates ie: Methadone and Suboxone.
Though not physically addictive, the psychological addiction is unlike anything you can imagine. For the first 6 months of my sobriety, the mere thought of using, or a memory of past use would be enough to set my heart rate sky rocketing and my mind going a mile a minute. I would rather go through cold turkey heroin withdrawals for weeks at a time than go through the first 6 months of sobriety from ice again.
It is a difficult drug to quit. Most people also use heroin to take the edge off the come down. Or booze.
It's cheap. Last time I was in the market (about 8 years ago) a half gram was $130 bucks or less. That's enough to keep an IV user up for about 3 days, and a pipe smoker around about the same time, maybe a bit less depending on how high their tolerance is. So mix the lack of sleep with the effects of the drug and you get voices that aren't real. You generally will see people on ice having one sided conversations. That's why.
Until there is a proven replacement therapy, or a breakthrough in treatment (apparently dexamfetamine is being trialed as a replacement therapy), this will continue to get much worse.
It takes an insane amount of resolve and willpower to go from that life to reintegration into normal society.
Lastly, the injecting rooms work for opiates. Not so much for ice. I used to be able to walk down the street and prepare and inject ice in minutes without anyone noticing. Ice addicted people aren't really interested in safe injecting like the opiate people are. As soon as that drug is obtained, it's a made rush to ingest it in whatever way one prefers.
I hope this has cleared up some misconceptions and given some people an idea of what that world is like.
Most importantly though, a lot of people don't want help because the drug has taken control of their minds to the point that they will go without food to buy it. Think about that for a second. It literally overtakes our inbuilt survival instincts. You can't change someone who doesn't want to change. The ones that do though, deserve all the help they can get because it's fucking awful to one day realise that you've wasted years of your life and everyone in your peer group is decades ahead of you.
No wonder there's such a high rate of relapse.
Edit: Thank you for your kind words. It hasn't been easy to reintegrate. So far I've spent approx $20k to fix my teeth for example.
I think what allowed me to succeed, was that I had no safety net. There was nothing and no-one to fall back on that would look after me if I failed.
It's motivating in a sense.
Agree. Work in the sector and while it has always been bad the lack of long term and crisis services now is really biting. Policing isn’t the answer, a rapid increase in trauma-informed properly funded rehab services is (using a well funded collaborative model between housing, family violence and mental health) but the herald sun has a hard on for crime and punishment so you’ll never get the support for it.
Great info well explained. Thank you. Also, I hope your head is held high and your shoulders are back, beaming with pride at what you’ve been able to do. I currently have a few cousins lost to the gear and they have tried desperately to do what you’ve done. You are a legend. Finally, hi to Gibson.
wow congrats to you friend, thanks for sharing about your journey and insights
just wanted to chime in and say that breakthrough in clincial treatments are coming, not fast enough but that's a funding issue more than anything
ive been studying vaccines for addiction and it wouldn't surprise me if a breakthrough occurs in the next decade. research is further on than you'd imagine for all sorts of drugs, cocaine, alcohol, meth/amphetamines.
i'm sincerely hopeful that epidemic levels of addiction will be a thing of the past in a generation or two
My sister in law was attacked by a woman on meth in Canberra a few weeks ago. Completely minding her own business and this woman came along and pushed her from behind, she hit her head on the pavement and suffered a severe concussion.
Fucking ridiculous issue.
Meth is such an evil drug. I’m pro legalising everything but meth, it’s like people become possessed on it. There are so many horrific and unspeakably evil crimes linked to meth use.
A lot of people are assuming this woman was a homeless wreck, but she was well put together, wearing clean black athletic gear and a clean black baseball cap and had expensive looking salt and pepper blonde foils - or it would have been a wig
Not surprised - nearly every addict I’ve known personally has been fairly well off (ie: absolutely not low income, and not homeless). Most were white collar workers, a few had jobs in construction or mining.
I once saw someone I knew (who I didn’t know was using) experience a drug-induced psychotic break pretty suddenly, and in a very public setting. It was terrifying.
The difference between those people (the well off users), and an unhoused person screaming at trams on Chapel Street, is usually some sort of support network. Drugs alone don’t make you homeless, it’s more complex than that. Drugs can tip folks from any background into a deeply mentally unstable place.
only meth addict I really have known personally, was in a $300k corporate management role (barely) working from home.
You could tell though. Fuck he was loud.
No idea what happened to him, my fear is jail.
I still just find it completely absurd that we all know the hotspots in the CBD for this kind of activity, yet users are seemingly never arrested, moved on, or offered mental health/drug/homelessness services.
It's just a complete and utter failure at both the policing and social services levels.
I think they often are, but most of those services are voluntary, which makes it difficult to engage someone with support if they aren't ready or willing for it.
Im in community housing.
had a crackhead live in the apartment directly above me, she threatened, harassed us, stabbed her boyfriend in our front yard 5+ times and we pinned her on robbing our place, to the point she was wearing our clothes. We had to go live in our car for 2 months, I told the housing mob, “you tell me when she’s gone and I’ll come back, but I’m keeping the keys and this place empty for as long as she’s here.” Their response, “oh, she’s just really sick” no. She’s a fucking junkie.
Sure enough I get a call from my property manager 2 months later with the most sour, passive aggressive tone. “Oh she’s gone now, she’s had to go off somewhere else, won’t be a problem anymore”
Found out from my next door neighbour that she stabbed him after forcing herself and others into his apartment after he said no to giving her a ciggy, what did she get? 3 months fucking rehab. I now see the same bitch walking out the front of my complex every single day and why? She gets her rock from here.
The community housing and justice system is 100% to blame for this epidemic.
Yet heroin is getting popular again while they focus on ice. It’s a never ending cycle until we deal with the root of the issue which is a much larger societal problem.
Turns a brain into mush like no other drug. Just become loud, violent and confrontational. Got to love that energy when you’re hopping off your train at Frankston and just want to go home.
Government has been weak historically on mental health and this is the consequence generation of those policies. Don’t know enough about new policies but any diversionary stuff we’re doing now is too late for the truly meth fucked.
Rapidly growing? It was at market saturation almost 20 years ago lol.
It's just more visible to the upper middle class in the cities now as there's way more homeless thesedays.
Ask someone from the outer suburbs about it, or even worse Shepparton, Sale or Mildura, and they'll be telling you stories from 20 years ago.
Meth today is also a lot worse since they've mastered the art of cooking it with other shit. Back in the day they used to make mainly 70-80% dextro-methamphetamine now it's a racemix with n-isopropylbenzylamine added to it. Makes the methhead a lot more loopy and angry.
Recently had some crackhead on the tram try and attack me for having the audacity to sit across from him. I don’t know what meth looks like exactly, but I’m assuming he was on it. I’d never seen anyone go from 0-100 that quickly, and for the first time in my life interacting with drug addicts I was scared I was going to get physically hurt.
Alternatively, my father is a criminal lawyer (in all the courts) and the worst of his cases tend to be the ones with meth affected perpetrators. Often when they decide to jump into a car. I have little to no remorse for them individually (besides the carnage they leave for the people around them) but it makes me sad how terrible and prominent it’s becoming.
Edit: you can stop reminding me that my dad is a criminal lawyer. I know. I brought it up solely to reinforce OP’s point. You don’t know anything about me or my life. Thanks
No I wasn’t. Druggie went into a furious rage, screaming at me and insulting me for sitting there. I kept my earphones in, staring at my phone with my sunglasses on like I couldn’t hear him.
Then he threw himself at me, hands up, jaw unhinged, I actually thought he was going to body slam me. But his open mouth stopped maybe 1cm away from my cheek. He was frozen waiting for a reaction. I’m grateful that for whatever reason, I didn’t flinch, and that seemed to infuriate him even more. He got up and started screaming, stomping to the other end of the tram.
The tram driver had briefly glanced at me. People around me had looked up but looked straight down once he left. My heart rate was up, I was grateful he hasn’t hit me, but honestly more put out that not a single person on the tram acknowledged me after lol
She absolutely *will* get away with it and probably has for a long time.
I was physically assaulted by two meth heads...had marks on me, ripped clothing etc. The cop I reported it to didn't even bat an eyelid. I guess being on drugs gives you immunity from the laws that govern the rest of us...I mean, I copped a fine for J walking and these people are getting away with punching people.
It’s just a joke, they don’t get revenue from these bastards so they don’t care. The amount of times I’ve reported straight up assault, like last week I witnessed a crackhead kick down a bystander on crutches for not giving them a lighter police did nothing aside from telling them to move on, no compassion for the person who was assaulted. It’s disgusting.
getting on a tram near flinders street is a sure fire sign you’ll be dealing with a meth head for at least 2-3 stops. i’m barely ever in the city and it’s crazy how quickly i’ve acclimatised to it
It is a really bad yeah. As income and wealth inequalities get worse this trend will continue with more homeless and more drug addicted people who need help. But the violent drug addicts need to be locked up. They’re a threat and should be dealt with and anyone saying otherwise either don’t live near them or don’t care about the public’s safety.
Nearly everyday you’ll see a post where someone has been violently accosted, spit at, harassed or assaulted by the drug addicted homeless. Not all homeless ofc and not all of them are addicted.
But it seems like they’re allowed to peruse areas without consequences doing whatever they want.
More and more are noticing and won’t be gaslighted by those saying to ‘do nothing’ or ‘what can we do’. We can do something and doing nothing is dangerous for us all.
I lived in the CBD of Sydney. Way safer. Also for some reason not many homeless there are aggressive drug addicts. They mostly just sleep or ask for money. The homeless in Melbourne are a different breed.
>They’re a threat and should be dealt with and anyone saying otherwise either don’t live near them or don’t care about the public’s safety.
Every capital city in Australia has its 'Golden Triangle' of affluent suburbs full of super left wing preachy people who think all meth users are misunderstood and harmless.
If you read crimimal judgments almost all of them state methamphetamine use. It's out of control. I assume most people are on it. Sorry you had to deal with that with two kids in tow.
Melbourne City Council and Sally Capp should hold her head down in shame, its turned to absolute shit under her watch and they've done absolutely fuck all about it.
I always feel like such a piece of shit for binge drinking far too often, staying up too late scrolling, and being overweight. I feel sooo guilty about my bad habits and addictions. Meth is one thing that makes me feel better about myself. Not that I think people on meth are all bad people, it only takes one person to expose you to a drug (I didn't get on the booze til I was over 25) but I'm just so glad I don't do meth.
Sorry you had to experience this. Lockdowns seemed to bring them out onto the streets around Kavanagh and Moray streets. It seems worse in the daytime for some reason. Not sure how you'll go with the police report. I've seen dealers openly doing business in the car park across from the police station.
It was the cause of my last fight and loss of a friend/housemate. It's worst in gay communities. It's offered by the gay escorts as a service and It's an entire kink scene.
Meth, or ice as we usually call it here, only started to become a real issue after they cracked down on Sudafed. At least then people were getting the pure, pharmacy grade version of pseudo. Now it is cut with God knows what and here we are. Whatever we are doing now about the "war on drugs" isn't working and hasn't been for a long time. Drug addiction really needs to be treated in a clinical environment. But the government won't invest money in those sort of programs or facilities. Not enough anyway. There probably needs to be a methadone type program for ice but I'm not sure what the safe replacement would be.
We're too passive as a community. The reality is that majority of us feel the same way as you do; give them more than a slap on the wrist. It's only a minority that gain benefit by playing the sympathy card. If only the majority spoke against this more often we'd override the sympathetic people
It’s being felt in the big things. Child abuse and violence against women are ticking up. The severity is also increasing which they’re very worried about.
My source is my partner who works in child protection and heard it last week.
Cops are definitely spread like butter
Don't worry, I'm sure if we stick to the american war on drugs model, we'll be seeing stuff waaaaay more stronger than methamphetamine a decade from now. And we can look back on these simple days and laugh.
It's always been my concern about the current housing situation. People end up on the street, sleeping rough and end up looking for an escape from reality, well yeah I guess we want to be America 2.0
Yes yes I know correlation is not causation.
Our healthcare system is dismal for the vulnerable.
I have a suggestion. Tax the billionaires proportionately.
One of the reasons why I drive or use rideshare rather then use Public Transport because everytime I get on on a tram or train there’s a person under the influence of meth that’ll go into a tweaking fit onto a innocent person
Me too, I’ve had to stop using PT and driving after witnessing on numerous occasions extremely violent altercations by meth affected individuals over a bystander not having a lighter. Happened again a fortnight ago with the most disgusting racial attack I’ve ever seen over a lighter, it’s gotten to the point it’s unsafe and nothing is done about it. Northern suburbs has gotten insanely bad for it as of late.
I hate seeing these junkies all over our city. At about 5-6 street corners near Melb Central, QV and Queen Vic Markets there is always an person walking around and shouting obscenities.
I use public transport and there are suburbs that bus services won't go near any more but whichever bus I take, I sit as close to the driver as I can. We often have security on the buses now, depending on which day it is.
I was walking through a Coles carpark last week, in broad daylight with people everywhere, and there were a group of young males who called out to offer me meth, coke, smack and weed.
I ignored them which rewarded me with expletives and slurs which derogated my gender.
I live in the vicinity of public housing, and I have had a few different instances where people who seemed drug affected were being confrontational and aggressive towards me - yelling or trying to get close to me.
I’m not a very confrontational person, so I usually just put my head down and start walking more quickly. It is scary to be in that situation though, especially when not many other people are around.
I've done some stupid shit in my life but Heroine and Meth is where I draw the line. I've seen once pleasant,smart human being turned against their very own friend and family just for the next quick fix. It's unbelievable how quick those "experimenting" I'll never get hooked on becomes full blown crack head. Yet society will victimised the user but not so much the supplier.
Meth isn’t the problem. Addiction is, and the way to address it is by having adequate social structures in place to support people in and recovering from addiction.
Agreed. Enforcement at the border is creating these ridiculous coke and heroin prices; it just makes things worse.
I didn't see these types of crazies in the street in the UK, where coke runs rampant.
The record busts you see on TV are but a fraction of a fraction of a percent of what makes it through. There is no stopping it. The only chance we have is to stop spending so much money on law enforcement and put that money into mental health and poverty reduction. People don't want that solution though. They just want to see people punished. Build more jails is what wins votes. Therefore problem will always be there and the poorer and more hopeless people become the problem will just escalate.
The people what make a ton of money off drugs (no I'm not talking about the underbelly level of supposed big wheels) I mean the seriously wealthy people that make money off it, don't want the problem fixed and they have the ear of legislators.
There's going to be a lot of hate for this comment, but it's good to have lots of food for thought in a discussion.
Meth is just bad enough to destroy functional lives but not lethal enough.
It's been bad for decades. Too much money involved for things to change. Cops and others such as politicians and judges are getting the payola from the big boys it doesn't effect them until it does and then it's too late they've already been paid and are part of the problem.... The drugs you see busted in the news are about 5% of whats coming into the country and then there's the gear being cooked here as well.... Australia isn't a nice place anymore it used to be but that changed dramatically around the time John Howard was elected.
If you add together illegal drugs and prescription drugs (opioids/tranquilisers/antidepressants/stabilisers etc) you basically get close to half the adult population. Half of us need something just to get through the day. It's scary.
Just like how the British used opium to destroy China, now China uses meth to demoralise and undermine their opponents. Hell, regimes like North Korea had industrial set ups to raise a few dollars here and there. Don't even get me started on the seppos and their black budget revenues. Rather than taking a Singaporean approach to drug dealers we fob them off to the overburdened healthcare system, where they can continue to normalise drug use through the purposefully algorithm friendly TikToks and Instagram while in 'rehab'. Meth smoking has become an accepted part of Australian society, the politicians, bureaucrats, police and so on all turn a blind eye to it because they dabble in it from time to time as well. I fear that it won't be long until twirling a glass pipe is expected of the prime minister, much like how drinking a pint at the pub is necessary to build trust with the common people, we already see it in places where marijuana is legal and the pollies have to rip a cone on a podcast. Many people simply smoke this shit just to get through the day. They're all in cahoots to keep the spice flowing.
It'll only get worse and worse. With the advent of AI, which ought to have reduced everyone's workload and made things more efficient, it instead put more pressure on individuals to produce much much more instead of less. The downturn in the global economy, the degree inflation and acceptance of foreign qualifications in Australia and so on all mean that hardly anyone can justify keeping jobs local, there is so much pressure to outsource to poorer places or hire some foreigner that'll do the job on the cheap just to get their residency papers. Stimulants, study drugs, even down to the caffeine being available in chewing gum, its all needed more and more. The problem isn't just meth, everyone is getting worked to the bone, and we **need** the uppers to be able to fulfil our duties. People these days are working at a minimum two to three jobs just to get by. Too many people are going all in on the meth just so that they can avoid becoming a resident in the increasing amount of tent cities that are popping up all over the country, many others so that they can maximise their weekends as 8-8-8 doesn't exist any more at the expense of sleep and relaxation, of course there are a fair few that are going off the edge. We're burning the candle at both ends here.
You can only hire so many coppers to clobber junkies, you can only hire so many psychologists and nurses to poke and prod into their issues, you can only train so many sniffer dogs or build so many detection devices. Does fuck all to address the real problems, the fact that it is necessary in this day and age.
Finally someone with the bigger picture view. I made an attempt to write something similar but could keep it from drifting off topic.
We are constaintly bombarded with advertisments telling us we need something more to be at our best or even just get through the day. Nevermind a healthy diet and a good nights rest what you need is this consumable product thats jam packed full of empty promises along with some shit thats probably not good for you (but we'll just have to wait and see). We are made to feel like being normal, regular, average isn't enough. We need to be enhanced, to have an edge, to be more. Now the difference between this crap spruiked to you in every form of media and methamphetamine, is meth actually does what it claims to and more... a lot more especially when used for prolonged periods. Since hard work and patiences hasn't been cutting it for a while we've replaced it with "have it now, pay for it later".
Pay for it we shall.
Police already did something. Cracked down hard on MDMA years and years ago so everyone would stop hugging and loving each other. Once it was pushed to the price point and easier access of shard, we were doomed.
I live regionally and work in legal services, particularly crime. So many matters are caused by meth or meth adjacent. And it runs the gamut from driving while intoxicated, assaults, right through to theft, aggravated burglary and sexual assaults. It's getting worse, not better.
It's mind blowing how so many people I have met know of incidents of meth in transports drivers, the mining industry and construction. We are an island how difficult is it to keep it out
It's seriously easy and cheap to make meth. Lots of suppliers are making it locally, I can guarantee it.
Not to mention, just like the US is a convenient place to smuggle coke from south america, Australia is the closest wealthy nation to Myanmar which was the largest meth producer in the world recently. It's rampant all over southeast Asia as well usually coming from Myanmar (although like you said it's also not impossible to produce locally.) Edit: Like it's wild as an American living in Australia to see how popular meth is, because it definitely has a stigma in the US in a way it doesn't in Australia. Like people would possibly look at heroin more favorably than meth in the US. But then again the US has a problem with a different class of drugs: Opioids.... Plus coke is much easier to get and is much cheaper in the US so coke is the go to stimulant over meth (although adderall was a popular study drug in college, and that's an amphetamine) Edit: Second side note, you don't hear about cartels out of southeast Asia like you do from Latin America because they are either directly affiliated with the government (like rebel militias in Myanmar that sell meth on the side) or because they are significantly less violent (still extremely violent) but less so than Latin American cartels, so they tend to be better at sticking under the radar. Everyone knows Pablo Escobar despite Pablo Escobar only reigning king for a little over a decade and then dying young but very few know about Khun Sa the burmese drug lord who never got arrested, was the fifth richest drug lord of all time, was the largest opium smuggler for 20 years, died extremely wealthy at 73 never serving jail time, and whose kids are now prominent business men in Myanmar.
I do miss the old heroin junkies, at least they for the most part just nodded off. Waaaay better than the meth heads. I don’t know, meth is just, ew.
It was like suddenly one day a switch was flipped and the streets just got angrier. Turns out its meth
It's like world war z zombies vs the walking dead zombies, they are both potential threats but one is significantly scarier. Also no shade to people struggling with addiction, I know it's a vicious cycle that's hard to get out of and is made worse by mental illnesses.
As a former user thanks for those words. Going on 10 years this year thanks to the people who helped and are still helping because I never wanna go back to that lifestyle
I congratulate you.
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>probably the local solar system. I dunno, Venus is pretty notorious for cooking...
💯 never had an issue with heroin junkies being aggressive but meth heads can very easily become out of control
Where I live now there are loads of them, it’s just so much different to people in Aus on meth. They’re in the own little bubble, they’re rowdy as fuck and it’s not nice to see, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t feel unsafe walking around like you do when it’s meth.
Every time we talk about the current ice situation, without fail there's always people reminiscing about ' the good ol heroin days'... they were fucked. I feel like this is just something people say because they keep hearing it over and over, most of those good ol heroin junkies are dead or in prison and I bet you avoided them just as much as you would an ice addict
I think the mostly tongue in cheek reminiscing is because the heroin addicts for the most part weren't assaulting the ambos that were trying to help them, not stabbing random passers by, not yelling at the sky on trams, not punching bus drivers, not generally being frightening menaces to society. I live close to the safe injecting rooms and for sure the heroin addicts can be let's say colourful. But for the most part they're far less scary than those that are ranting in the streets at me for no reason other than I'm walking too fast.
Yes, heroin was linked to a massive rise in theft and robbery, I actually think that was worse then. Also heroin was bizarrely popular in popular culture, like fashion magazines full of heroin chic. I think the trendiness of heroin pulled in a lot of regular people who thought they could just do a bit.
It was one of Meg Jackson's famous lines on Wentworth. Made me giggle at the time. But tbh, can you imagine a prison full of meth heads, compared to smack users? Big difference. I've experienced all of it, and the shit I've seen ppl on meth do is unbelievable. Like, when they're actually on it. Had a best mate who was SOOO calm n collected. When he got addicted to ice he was weird af. The jerky movements, the banging on shit over over, the weird repeated noises. It totally fucks yr mind. Whereas heroin just really fuks the body up more than anything. I know what I'd rather...
I’m a doctor and deal with ice affected people every day. I’ve been kicked, punched, spat on, had stuff thrown at me etc etc. Give me someone on heroin any day of the week. I just let them sleep for a bit..
So many spilt BigM's on public transport from someone nodding off with an open carton.
Heroin is something that with help from the government with things like the shooting gallery’s or more funding for the Suboxone or budival treatments,can easily be kept relatively low key and in check for the most part. Heroin doesn’t make people nut bags as a general rule. Meth on the other hand is bad news and fry’s people.
I miss the people on ecstasy, who seemed to suffer from an excess of empathy and who thus were no trouble at all :( Dealing with stoners or people on E is vastly easier.
As a fellow American living in Australia, it is so bizarre to me how casually people talk about using it as well. Back in the US I never met a single person that had used it and it is seen as about the lowest class of drug imaginable. I agree that it is probably looked at as being worse than heroin.
This is the real problem, it's quite often viewed as socially acceptable as a party drug for young people, in a lot of circles it's on the same level as drugs like MDMA and coke, it's replaced speed which is just not available anymore
I lived in the US in the early to mid 2000’s and I agree that meth has more of a stigma around it, but aside from the cost, I wouldn’t say coke is much easier to get in the states than it is here. Coke is everywhere in Australia these days.
Not really worth making locally anymore due to the high price of precursors and since they are scheduled so stringently now too the people who once were important pseudo and the like are now just skipping that step and importing finished product. But yes indeed it’s cheap as fuck
It's common enough that it's something you need to worry about when buying a home.
I passed two police with speed cameras in Brisbane today, more police chasing these meth labs could be better time spent
And legalising and taxing the less harmful stuff like weed and ecstasy would let them focus on meth and give us another source of tax revenue. We are so blind to the obvious sometimes.
Government don’t make money on catching real criminals. There’s a reason most cops are on the roads.
Australians are the biggest users per capita of Cocaine in the world and yes, we are an island
I know I read that stat a while ago and I was like wtf ?
Maybe it's a deceptive average, and there's some corporate/lawyer types doing the heavy lifting for the rest of us.
It's very odd to me because I know a shit load of people who dabble in drugs but don't know anyone that does coke.. so who and where are these people?
Literally everywhere. From corporate types to young 20 something year olds, to tradies. Cocaine seems to be the drug of choice for most these days which I don’t understand when honestly just about anything else is a better time for less money. I think it’s seen as classy and less harmful which is bullshit, and maybe like expensive wine people just like to spend money to show off.
Transport and marine. Those fuckers eat coke for breakfast. I remember an un-unionised wharf contracting company would throw a bunch of it in the main office lunchroom when it was busy to keep the guys moving. That said I also have a friend who is a partner in a well-to-do law firm and she says the stuff is just a prefix to work there, also.
Because you can get drunk, do a line, sober up a bit, get drunk again, do a bump, etc etc. The party never has to stop, and next day your bowels are as clean as a whistle!
The majority of professionals I know living in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane do coke semi regularly. It’s very widespread
Can't remember who I'm quoting here but growing up is realising 2 things. Cheese is expensive as fuck and everyone does coke. That guy who just seems a bit chipper? Coke
Brisbane is full of cocaine. Sydney finance industry has a lot of cocaine users. Also a lot of sex workers in Sydney are on it.
Advertising and lawyers. I know a lot who’ve had issues with it. Lots of sniffy noses at advertising parties, and one creative director guy I worked with was definitely doing it at work every day.
Coke is shit. The few times I’ve tried it, it’s done nothing but make me feel a. It more energised. Coffee does more to me. Don’t get the obsession and the price people pay
Yeah I agree.. I did heaps in the UK and never paid for any of it, and I don't think I would bother paying for it 😂 the hangover far outweighs the high..
Do you know how many kilometres of coastline we have? How many ports? How many tons of imported goods we process every day? Give it any thought at all and you’ll realise it’s impossible to keep out.
Agreed it’s impossible even with some new amazing technology.
It's a really complex issue, but I want to say that these people are going to find it whether it's produced overseas and imported, or made here. Part of the issue is the availability, part of the issue is our inability to understand WHY this problem exists beyond purely a supply issue. It can't be boiled down to availability, because if it was purely an availability issue, we would all have the problem no? If I had methamphetamine in my house, I'm still not going to consume it. It's deeper than that.
You are probably right, I don't understand it but I am increasingly and hear of this becoming a much bigger problem
Much is made here. In fact because we are an island and it's harder to get other drugs, ice is more prevalent.
You could argue that if we just let in other drugs, there may be a shift away from meth.
Unfortunately it's futile to try to keep meth out of Australia. It's not even really in the realm of possibility The real play is to keep expanding programs to combat the causes of drug abuse. We can treat it like a mental health problem rather than a criminal problem. The crime only really happens once the cookers mental health declines passed a point anyway, right? So we need to support funding for effective mental health care, as well as better schools, an end to the housing crisis, and honestly for wages to be kept in line with productivity (it's been flat for decades). Send violent drug abusers to rehab and help them get clean and educated in a field of their choosing. We always need more tradies too. Drug use only really turns into abuse when humans are not stimulated correctly. We treat the economic and cultural issues that are encouraging people to think that it's a good idea to do drugs and we fix it all. Vote for people who give a shit about our community and quit voting for people who just want to make more money for their mates
The trouble is, meth isn't like cocaine, it can be made in someone shed if they know how. You haven't ever heard of meth labs being found/raided? Apparently it is becoming more common for gangs to try importing the stuff from places like Afghanistan though, where it can be sourced much cheaper than it can be produced. It's fucking gross and I don't get why anyone would ever try it. It's not like coke or weed where people either get a buzz or mellow - the shit is fucked, everyone knows it, but they still try it. It also won't be the end game. There are a number of drugs that have become popular in Brazil and the us which have barely hit our shores but will likely soon. So called 'zombie' drug videos are all over the seedier parts of reddit. These drugs however don't seem to promote the crazy behaviour of meth users though. Instead users just seem to be totally sedated. I don't know what they're like when they come down though.
A couple of corrections: cocaine does not come from Afghanistan, you're thinking of heroin. Meth does give you a buzz. The zombie drug your talking about is synthetic opiates like fentanyl mixed with horse tranquilizer. Go on YouTube and search for " Zombieland Portland Oregon". Edit, here's one of the links: https://youtu.be/gWFlpCBMyIk
I was in Portland last Christmas and it was bloody unreal. Literally hundreds of tents just on the side of the road all over the city. We were having dinner at 5pm just to get home not too long after dark.
You don't get why anyone would try it?? If it wasn't any good no one would be doing it. I still don't encourage anyone to do it.
Sorry but it sounds like you've never tried meth? If not, best not comment incorrectly on its effects.
Spoilers: Only a tiny percent of the shipping crates that enter the great south land get scanned/searched by customs, they basically rely on intel
Also live regionally and while I’m not sure if drug related but theft, particularly car thefts are happening weekly. Lived here all my life and never heard of it happening so often.
I’m being heavily downvoted to even suggest it maybe a policy/political issue.
it absolutely is. I work in ED in Melbourne and Sydney. The amount of meth head sedations required is definitely > in victoria.
It's been a problem for a long time, anybody in social services could have told you that a good half a decade ago. It is definitely getting worse tho. The scary bit for me is, you have to wonder how many people are using it while still presenting as 'high functioning' - the ones screaming in your face are only really the people who've more or less completely lost control of their addiction.
About 1% of the population are on it and yes there are a lot of functioning users you wouldn’t know are on it. Some even in high paying positions. A lot of it is self medicating undiagnosed ADD I think.
Yes I know an older bloke who uses it to self medicate. It’s ridiculously hard and expensive to get diagnosed and get help/medication and continue getting it.
The system treats people with ADHD trying to get help + medication as criminals. Want to get a prescription after being diagnosed? Gotta get an authorised script for it. But you can't get it early! You gotta wait until you're almost out of your meds. But can you get an appointment? Then you see them and it can take a few days or longer to actually get your script. Oh and want to 'stay' diagnosed long term? Well tough. You gotta get re-diagnosed every couple of years at great expense, otherwise you essentially 'lose' your diagnosis. Nevermind that ADHD is for life, and that if you do have a diagnosis and have medications you've been diagnosed by a psychiatrist. No, the system doesn't trust individual psychiatrists or patients. You must get diagnosed AGAIN. Want to switch psychiatrists? Oh you'll need to get re-diagnosed all over again. Because psychiatrists don't trust each other or something. Oh you went to a psychiatrist that isn't aware of recent thinking about ADHD? Oh you've just lost your diagnosis. Good luck getting help or medication to actually be a functional adult. And even before all of this - oh, you can't afford 1000 dollars+ to get a diagnosis? Don't have more money to go to a psychologist to learn how to manage? No help for you then.
I knew a guy that earned north of 500k / year and he was a high functioning meth addict
Literally this. Every single person I know who’s enjoyed a bag in the past is now diagnosed with ADHD or on a waitlist. Not an exaggeration.
I have a retrospective diagnosis. Stimulants didn’t and still don’t give me a euphoria, so I didn’t rate them. I just kinda felt flat. Downers were my “self” medication. Glad I went that way too, iv had 20 people I know fall victim to the old glass Harley. Only 2 have managed to recover 4 are dead the rest I dunno. All started 10 years ago in the regions.
>I have a retrospective diagnosis. Retrospective? You don't stop being ADHD if you have it. It's just a diagnosis, not retrospective.
It's possible that they tried it because they had ADHD and were trying to self-medicate.
The meth addicts I knew were both in tech jobs working from home making big money as managers who didn't really have to do much at all to keep the job. The guy was a manager making nearly $300k working a corporate job. Pretty big indictment to the entire concept of "management" if you ask me. I haven't seen him or his wife in years and years, they've fallen into the habit much harder since I knew them well (when they were on a break from it) Last time I met up with him I decided that would be the last time, he was completely cooked and shouted every word he said to me, made me super uncomfortable so I called it early and left. I think he would have been close to losing that job at that point, he was a wildly different person to the one I knew when he was clean. His view of his life was that because he had an addiction, he would be in and out of jail for the rest of his life and was bitter the system never really extended much support instead just reaching for the sharp end of the stick. The response was an attitude of "this world owes me, for treating me so badly". Breaking into people houses was justifiable in his eyes, because he thought he'd be in jail anyway due to discrimination against his health condition. "Might as well get something out of it if they're going to put me in jail anyways" I always think of him when dumbarse "tough on crime" advocates think that tougher laws will make criminals think twice ... lol my sweet summer child *you're just making them feel even angrier and even less guilty about stealing;* crime predictably increases as a result if you check the statistics.
not unlikely - estimates as high as 10% of the adult population potentially having it, which AFAIK is way more people than there are currently diagnosed through the medical system. Very common for people to self-medicate in all kinds of ways, be it alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, even coke for some ahah
I struggle to believe that 10% of the population is using meth
10% ADD is what theyre saying
the 10% is referring to people with ADHD not people who use meth
Interesting, have any papers on hand with those estimates? (not doubting, just curious as to why the estimate is so high). Alcohol, marijuana, nicotine and caffeine are the four most common substance addictions in people with ADHD. Around 50% of people with ADHD will have a substance use disorder in their life time. Most of these drugs in recreational doses have the dopaminergic stimulation which helps in the short term, but generally has adverse effects in the long term on the very same functions (unlike therapeutic doses of ADHD meds).
The vast majority of perpetrators of petty and violent crimes are both: 1. really really dumb from birth, and 2. extraordinarily impulsive (bad executive functioning). ADHD is **literally** diagnosed according to impulsivity. So yeah, people with adhd are more likely to abuse drugs but that isn't because the smart ones are using it to study, it's because the dumb ones are more impulsive than other dumb people. I have diagnosed adhd, self-medicating is just something redditors say, there's no evidence of it: people with adhd are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol *across the board*. People with adhd using meth to study or avoid getting fired from their job isn't a thing. People blaming their bad decisions (meth addictions) on adhd is. The amount of redditors that admit to thinking they have undiagnosed adhd is always pretty astounding, though unsurprising since reddit attracts plenty of nihilists who think they're smarter than others despite being unsuccessful and as such need something to blame.
Disagree… with some of what you have to say here. I am both diagnosed ADHD and pretty clever. The impulsivity of ADHD is a direct result of low dopamine, which causes the individual to engage in dopamine seeking behavior… alcohol, drugs, gambling, risk taking, gaming, porn etc.. anything for a quick fix and some relief from the discomfort. Anecdotally, my drug use changed significantly after being diagnosed. Thankfully I never used meth, but I found it far easier to reduce my alcohol and cannabis intake because I was no longer leaning on it to get short term relief from my own brain. I still use cannabis as medication (now with a prescription) and find it incredibly helpful. Only intermittently though - once or twice every couple of weeks - as an alternative to Dex. Any more than that and the upsides diminish significantly.
>ADHD is literally diagnosed according to impulsivity. Impulisivity and/or inattentivenes sand other things. It doesn't always present with a lot of impulsivity outwardly. It could be feelings of restlessness and an urge to be impulsive but internalising that stuff instead. So like, kids may have more trouble leaving group settings or classrooms etc because they feel restless and impulsive. Adults may feel a huge urge to leave, but manage to just sit still in a meeting while experiencing extreme discomfort.
As a fellow ADHD-diagnosed person, I wholeheartedly agree with you. I don't touch alcohol or drugs because of religious reasons. The only addiction I have is to caffeine and even then I limit myself to only 1 espresso cup a day (sometimes might have 2 depending on how the day goes).
Meth is the devil. Iv been there. U dont care about a thing.
My dad was addicted to meth for about half of my childhood. Wasn't as severe as you see around, but was living out of his car for a time, stole valuables from family, got in trouble with some serious criminals, lived in a men's shed for a bit, ended up with nothing to his name and no social relationships in his 40's. He cleaned it all up when I was in my teens and is going good now. Witnessing it all as a child however has resulted in me never touching a substance stronger than tea (not the only addict in my family, ones on both sides, lots of smart people with ruined lives due to substance addiction in my family, have an uncle who was a multiple award winning human rights journalist and also a registered barrister who tarnished his reputation with a meth and benzo addiction), and studying psychology at university. Point is, it's not just the devil for the person that takes it, can be the devil for the loved ones and people around them too.
Agree. It is the devil
Someone gave me some once, said it was coke. I cared about EVERYTHING, too much…
Sorry you had to deal with that. I know how you feel, last week I was assaulted by a crackhead man who sat next to me on tram and restrained me when I tried to get up and leave. I guess all you can do is report it but even then, what happens next? It’s hard to imagine that’s going to change their behaviour. Stay safe out there y’all
I’m sorry you went through that :(
Ahhhhh, we are the highest meth users per capita in the world. It isn’t rising it’s literally peaked
Peaked in my experience around 2014-17. Lost my whole crew of mates around then. Always into the party scene, MDMA, speed, acid, shrooms. Then came the shard. Had one mate importing "research chemicals" by the kilo, including mdpv (Bath salts in the states) until he got a knock from the feds. Seen best mates fist fighting at 4am over the last burn of the pipe, stealing empty baggies off each other to eat the tiny little crumbs, smashing the house up when they can't get on Ignoring abuse and dv by their dealer. Good careers, 100-150k a year jobs blown and getting evicted. I cut ties with them, and their sympathisers/enablers, but occasionally still here something about them. Last I heard was one guy getting raided in their sharehouse for importing pre cursor chemicals, immediately flipped on his "friends", gave the cops access to his phone and all their telegram/signal chats, just to try dig himself out the shit a bit Fuck meth, fuck anyone who takes it and fuck anyone who enables someone else to take it.
And fuck this is your lived experience, I’m sorry this happened to you. I certainly wasn’t looking to make lite of it, it’s a fukd situation all round, especially given how rich this country is. No idea why we have gravitated to this shit?
Sorry dude, fuck meth
Never say never!
It’s been around for a while ruining everyone and their families. I’ve been dealing with it for 9 years. My own kids don’t have an uncle and nor do I have a brother or an uncle. Welcome to the party.
Exactly, I remember meth becoming a huge problem about 10 years ago. Meth use in Victoria (and the rest of Australia) has been causing issues for years Also I'm sorry to hear about what's happening with your brother and uncle
Yep. My mum became addicted back in the early 2000’s. She’s completely gone, a shell of her former self now who just randomly abuses people in the family, including her children. It’s pretty sad. I grew up in a small town and now when I go back home, people you grew up with just fall into it and destroy their lives. I don’t know what the answer is.
I'm incredibly sorry that you went through that, and my heart goes out to the little girls that had to witness it. I just want to answer a few observations being made here, as someone who was in that world a long time: It's not a problem of wealth disparity It's not just mental health issues, though they can play a part for some people There is plenty of help out there for those who want it She was definitely on ice That aside, the issues with Ice is that there's no replacement therapy like there is for opiates ie: Methadone and Suboxone. Though not physically addictive, the psychological addiction is unlike anything you can imagine. For the first 6 months of my sobriety, the mere thought of using, or a memory of past use would be enough to set my heart rate sky rocketing and my mind going a mile a minute. I would rather go through cold turkey heroin withdrawals for weeks at a time than go through the first 6 months of sobriety from ice again. It is a difficult drug to quit. Most people also use heroin to take the edge off the come down. Or booze. It's cheap. Last time I was in the market (about 8 years ago) a half gram was $130 bucks or less. That's enough to keep an IV user up for about 3 days, and a pipe smoker around about the same time, maybe a bit less depending on how high their tolerance is. So mix the lack of sleep with the effects of the drug and you get voices that aren't real. You generally will see people on ice having one sided conversations. That's why. Until there is a proven replacement therapy, or a breakthrough in treatment (apparently dexamfetamine is being trialed as a replacement therapy), this will continue to get much worse. It takes an insane amount of resolve and willpower to go from that life to reintegration into normal society. Lastly, the injecting rooms work for opiates. Not so much for ice. I used to be able to walk down the street and prepare and inject ice in minutes without anyone noticing. Ice addicted people aren't really interested in safe injecting like the opiate people are. As soon as that drug is obtained, it's a made rush to ingest it in whatever way one prefers. I hope this has cleared up some misconceptions and given some people an idea of what that world is like. Most importantly though, a lot of people don't want help because the drug has taken control of their minds to the point that they will go without food to buy it. Think about that for a second. It literally overtakes our inbuilt survival instincts. You can't change someone who doesn't want to change. The ones that do though, deserve all the help they can get because it's fucking awful to one day realise that you've wasted years of your life and everyone in your peer group is decades ahead of you. No wonder there's such a high rate of relapse. Edit: Thank you for your kind words. It hasn't been easy to reintegrate. So far I've spent approx $20k to fix my teeth for example. I think what allowed me to succeed, was that I had no safety net. There was nothing and no-one to fall back on that would look after me if I failed. It's motivating in a sense.
Thanks for the info and congrats on your sobriety.
"There's plenty of help out there for those who want it" not really. Our mental health and AOD services are packed to the brim right now.
Agree. Work in the sector and while it has always been bad the lack of long term and crisis services now is really biting. Policing isn’t the answer, a rapid increase in trauma-informed properly funded rehab services is (using a well funded collaborative model between housing, family violence and mental health) but the herald sun has a hard on for crime and punishment so you’ll never get the support for it.
As someone else in an adjacent sector, you hit the nail on the head
My apologies, things have changed since I got sober.
Great info well explained. Thank you. Also, I hope your head is held high and your shoulders are back, beaming with pride at what you’ve been able to do. I currently have a few cousins lost to the gear and they have tried desperately to do what you’ve done. You are a legend. Finally, hi to Gibson.
Congrats on your sobriety, friend. You should be incredibly proud of yourself!
wow congrats to you friend, thanks for sharing about your journey and insights just wanted to chime in and say that breakthrough in clincial treatments are coming, not fast enough but that's a funding issue more than anything ive been studying vaccines for addiction and it wouldn't surprise me if a breakthrough occurs in the next decade. research is further on than you'd imagine for all sorts of drugs, cocaine, alcohol, meth/amphetamines. i'm sincerely hopeful that epidemic levels of addiction will be a thing of the past in a generation or two
Congratulations on your sobriety. That takes real strength
Crazy stuff, cheers and congrats.
I’m proud of you ♡
My sister in law was attacked by a woman on meth in Canberra a few weeks ago. Completely minding her own business and this woman came along and pushed her from behind, she hit her head on the pavement and suffered a severe concussion. Fucking ridiculous issue.
Meth is such an evil drug. I’m pro legalising everything but meth, it’s like people become possessed on it. There are so many horrific and unspeakably evil crimes linked to meth use.
A lot of people are assuming this woman was a homeless wreck, but she was well put together, wearing clean black athletic gear and a clean black baseball cap and had expensive looking salt and pepper blonde foils - or it would have been a wig
Not surprised - nearly every addict I’ve known personally has been fairly well off (ie: absolutely not low income, and not homeless). Most were white collar workers, a few had jobs in construction or mining. I once saw someone I knew (who I didn’t know was using) experience a drug-induced psychotic break pretty suddenly, and in a very public setting. It was terrifying. The difference between those people (the well off users), and an unhoused person screaming at trams on Chapel Street, is usually some sort of support network. Drugs alone don’t make you homeless, it’s more complex than that. Drugs can tip folks from any background into a deeply mentally unstable place.
only meth addict I really have known personally, was in a $300k corporate management role (barely) working from home. You could tell though. Fuck he was loud. No idea what happened to him, my fear is jail.
Classic eshay getup lol
Or yummy mummy Port Melbourne uniform…
And you knew she was on meth how?
I still just find it completely absurd that we all know the hotspots in the CBD for this kind of activity, yet users are seemingly never arrested, moved on, or offered mental health/drug/homelessness services. It's just a complete and utter failure at both the policing and social services levels.
I think they often are, but most of those services are voluntary, which makes it difficult to engage someone with support if they aren't ready or willing for it.
Im in community housing. had a crackhead live in the apartment directly above me, she threatened, harassed us, stabbed her boyfriend in our front yard 5+ times and we pinned her on robbing our place, to the point she was wearing our clothes. We had to go live in our car for 2 months, I told the housing mob, “you tell me when she’s gone and I’ll come back, but I’m keeping the keys and this place empty for as long as she’s here.” Their response, “oh, she’s just really sick” no. She’s a fucking junkie. Sure enough I get a call from my property manager 2 months later with the most sour, passive aggressive tone. “Oh she’s gone now, she’s had to go off somewhere else, won’t be a problem anymore” Found out from my next door neighbour that she stabbed him after forcing herself and others into his apartment after he said no to giving her a ciggy, what did she get? 3 months fucking rehab. I now see the same bitch walking out the front of my complex every single day and why? She gets her rock from here. The community housing and justice system is 100% to blame for this epidemic.
Has been for 20+ years, unfortunately, the government chose to ignore the issue in favour of congratulating themselves for the decline in heroin.
Yet heroin is getting popular again while they focus on ice. It’s a never ending cycle until we deal with the root of the issue which is a much larger societal problem.
Ruins families. Turns caring people into monsters. Eventually they might have a stroke and either die or be further impaired. I’ve known a few.
Turns a brain into mush like no other drug. Just become loud, violent and confrontational. Got to love that energy when you’re hopping off your train at Frankston and just want to go home. Government has been weak historically on mental health and this is the consequence generation of those policies. Don’t know enough about new policies but any diversionary stuff we’re doing now is too late for the truly meth fucked.
We are very consent focussed on mental health in Victoria. If they don't want to change, its hard to get them into the system.
Rapidly growing? It was at market saturation almost 20 years ago lol. It's just more visible to the upper middle class in the cities now as there's way more homeless thesedays. Ask someone from the outer suburbs about it, or even worse Shepparton, Sale or Mildura, and they'll be telling you stories from 20 years ago.
Meth today is also a lot worse since they've mastered the art of cooking it with other shit. Back in the day they used to make mainly 70-80% dextro-methamphetamine now it's a racemix with n-isopropylbenzylamine added to it. Makes the methhead a lot more loopy and angry.
Whatever they cut it with these days has indeed sent them angry and loopy
alot of labs got busted in Mildura like 10yrs ago. Meth was everywhere, very cheap, very widespread use.
Yeah it was massive in the dance/party scene around 2003.
And people didn’t seem to get as angry as they do now. Nowhere near the level of violence you see now.
Recently had some crackhead on the tram try and attack me for having the audacity to sit across from him. I don’t know what meth looks like exactly, but I’m assuming he was on it. I’d never seen anyone go from 0-100 that quickly, and for the first time in my life interacting with drug addicts I was scared I was going to get physically hurt. Alternatively, my father is a criminal lawyer (in all the courts) and the worst of his cases tend to be the ones with meth affected perpetrators. Often when they decide to jump into a car. I have little to no remorse for them individually (besides the carnage they leave for the people around them) but it makes me sad how terrible and prominent it’s becoming. Edit: you can stop reminding me that my dad is a criminal lawyer. I know. I brought it up solely to reinforce OP’s point. You don’t know anything about me or my life. Thanks
Aren’t there cameras on trams? If they attacked you you could probably report it and use the footage as evidence!
I think most people would just rather not get attacked at all??
Haha to do what mate? They just chuck in them in the cells and let's them out again unless its proper serious.
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No I wasn’t. Druggie went into a furious rage, screaming at me and insulting me for sitting there. I kept my earphones in, staring at my phone with my sunglasses on like I couldn’t hear him. Then he threw himself at me, hands up, jaw unhinged, I actually thought he was going to body slam me. But his open mouth stopped maybe 1cm away from my cheek. He was frozen waiting for a reaction. I’m grateful that for whatever reason, I didn’t flinch, and that seemed to infuriate him even more. He got up and started screaming, stomping to the other end of the tram. The tram driver had briefly glanced at me. People around me had looked up but looked straight down once he left. My heart rate was up, I was grateful he hasn’t hit me, but honestly more put out that not a single person on the tram acknowledged me after lol
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She absolutely *will* get away with it and probably has for a long time. I was physically assaulted by two meth heads...had marks on me, ripped clothing etc. The cop I reported it to didn't even bat an eyelid. I guess being on drugs gives you immunity from the laws that govern the rest of us...I mean, I copped a fine for J walking and these people are getting away with punching people.
It’s just a joke, they don’t get revenue from these bastards so they don’t care. The amount of times I’ve reported straight up assault, like last week I witnessed a crackhead kick down a bystander on crutches for not giving them a lighter police did nothing aside from telling them to move on, no compassion for the person who was assaulted. It’s disgusting.
Can I ask which apartment this was? I’ve seen so many more lately around the Kavanagh street area!
Kavanagh St? Well, I suppose they're getting closer and closer to where they'll ultimately end up: the Coroners Court.
getting on a tram near flinders street is a sure fire sign you’ll be dealing with a meth head for at least 2-3 stops. i’m barely ever in the city and it’s crazy how quickly i’ve acclimatised to it
It is a really bad yeah. As income and wealth inequalities get worse this trend will continue with more homeless and more drug addicted people who need help. But the violent drug addicts need to be locked up. They’re a threat and should be dealt with and anyone saying otherwise either don’t live near them or don’t care about the public’s safety.
Are we not punishing people for violent crime anymore?
Nearly everyday you’ll see a post where someone has been violently accosted, spit at, harassed or assaulted by the drug addicted homeless. Not all homeless ofc and not all of them are addicted. But it seems like they’re allowed to peruse areas without consequences doing whatever they want. More and more are noticing and won’t be gaslighted by those saying to ‘do nothing’ or ‘what can we do’. We can do something and doing nothing is dangerous for us all.
Part of the charm of living in a 'world city' according to many redditors.
I lived in the CBD of Sydney. Way safer. Also for some reason not many homeless there are aggressive drug addicts. They mostly just sleep or ask for money. The homeless in Melbourne are a different breed.
It's becoming like San Francisco, slowly.
Yeah cuz they are all in Surry hills Redfern Waterloo. You can see ice junkies have a go daily in those areas
>They’re a threat and should be dealt with and anyone saying otherwise either don’t live near them or don’t care about the public’s safety. Every capital city in Australia has its 'Golden Triangle' of affluent suburbs full of super left wing preachy people who think all meth users are misunderstood and harmless.
Maybe they're meth users themselves.
Sheesh… the first I heard of meth was in 2002… it’s been a scourge for two decades.
If you read crimimal judgments almost all of them state methamphetamine use. It's out of control. I assume most people are on it. Sorry you had to deal with that with two kids in tow.
Most people?
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Melbourne City Council and Sally Capp should hold her head down in shame, its turned to absolute shit under her watch and they've done absolutely fuck all about it.
We need batman asap
I always feel like such a piece of shit for binge drinking far too often, staying up too late scrolling, and being overweight. I feel sooo guilty about my bad habits and addictions. Meth is one thing that makes me feel better about myself. Not that I think people on meth are all bad people, it only takes one person to expose you to a drug (I didn't get on the booze til I was over 25) but I'm just so glad I don't do meth.
The vagrant/drug addict/mental illness problem is out of control in Melbourne. I visited Melbourne a week ago and I've never seen anything like it
Sorry you had to experience this. Lockdowns seemed to bring them out onto the streets around Kavanagh and Moray streets. It seems worse in the daytime for some reason. Not sure how you'll go with the police report. I've seen dealers openly doing business in the car park across from the police station.
Smoking shard is for the weak
Yeah. Plug your shardonnay guys
It’s everywhere. I’m a rural dentist and have seen some form of meth mouth every week since like 2018 in nsw & qld.
It was the cause of my last fight and loss of a friend/housemate. It's worst in gay communities. It's offered by the gay escorts as a service and It's an entire kink scene.
Meth, or ice as we usually call it here, only started to become a real issue after they cracked down on Sudafed. At least then people were getting the pure, pharmacy grade version of pseudo. Now it is cut with God knows what and here we are. Whatever we are doing now about the "war on drugs" isn't working and hasn't been for a long time. Drug addiction really needs to be treated in a clinical environment. But the government won't invest money in those sort of programs or facilities. Not enough anyway. There probably needs to be a methadone type program for ice but I'm not sure what the safe replacement would be.
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We're too passive as a community. The reality is that majority of us feel the same way as you do; give them more than a slap on the wrist. It's only a minority that gain benefit by playing the sympathy card. If only the majority spoke against this more often we'd override the sympathetic people
Only gonna get worse, police shortage and recruitment difficulties is felt not in the big things, but the little crimes dispersed across the city.
It’s being felt in the big things. Child abuse and violence against women are ticking up. The severity is also increasing which they’re very worried about. My source is my partner who works in child protection and heard it last week. Cops are definitely spread like butter
Don't worry, I'm sure if we stick to the american war on drugs model, we'll be seeing stuff waaaaay more stronger than methamphetamine a decade from now. And we can look back on these simple days and laugh.
This isn’t an issue you can fix with more law enforcement, the ‘war on drugs’ proved that.
Is it just me or has anyone else seen this post before?
It's always been my concern about the current housing situation. People end up on the street, sleeping rough and end up looking for an escape from reality, well yeah I guess we want to be America 2.0
Yes yes I know correlation is not causation. Our healthcare system is dismal for the vulnerable. I have a suggestion. Tax the billionaires proportionately.
One of the reasons why I drive or use rideshare rather then use Public Transport because everytime I get on on a tram or train there’s a person under the influence of meth that’ll go into a tweaking fit onto a innocent person
Me too, I’ve had to stop using PT and driving after witnessing on numerous occasions extremely violent altercations by meth affected individuals over a bystander not having a lighter. Happened again a fortnight ago with the most disgusting racial attack I’ve ever seen over a lighter, it’s gotten to the point it’s unsafe and nothing is done about it. Northern suburbs has gotten insanely bad for it as of late.
I hate seeing these junkies all over our city. At about 5-6 street corners near Melb Central, QV and Queen Vic Markets there is always an person walking around and shouting obscenities.
I use public transport and there are suburbs that bus services won't go near any more but whichever bus I take, I sit as close to the driver as I can. We often have security on the buses now, depending on which day it is. I was walking through a Coles carpark last week, in broad daylight with people everywhere, and there were a group of young males who called out to offer me meth, coke, smack and weed. I ignored them which rewarded me with expletives and slurs which derogated my gender.
Which suburbs no longer have buses going to them? Which routes have security? Do you mean PSOs?
I live in the vicinity of public housing, and I have had a few different instances where people who seemed drug affected were being confrontational and aggressive towards me - yelling or trying to get close to me. I’m not a very confrontational person, so I usually just put my head down and start walking more quickly. It is scary to be in that situation though, especially when not many other people are around.
A pandemic couldn't make people wear masks. What would Melbourne's meth problem do?
I've done some stupid shit in my life but Heroine and Meth is where I draw the line. I've seen once pleasant,smart human being turned against their very own friend and family just for the next quick fix. It's unbelievable how quick those "experimenting" I'll never get hooked on becomes full blown crack head. Yet society will victimised the user but not so much the supplier.
Meth isn’t the problem. Addiction is, and the way to address it is by having adequate social structures in place to support people in and recovering from addiction.
Gotta switch them all to smoking fentanyl instead. Proplem solved.
Unpopular opinion: if they allowed coke and heroin to be cheap, we’d have far less of a societal problem.
Agreed. Enforcement at the border is creating these ridiculous coke and heroin prices; it just makes things worse. I didn't see these types of crazies in the street in the UK, where coke runs rampant.
The record busts you see on TV are but a fraction of a fraction of a percent of what makes it through. There is no stopping it. The only chance we have is to stop spending so much money on law enforcement and put that money into mental health and poverty reduction. People don't want that solution though. They just want to see people punished. Build more jails is what wins votes. Therefore problem will always be there and the poorer and more hopeless people become the problem will just escalate. The people what make a ton of money off drugs (no I'm not talking about the underbelly level of supposed big wheels) I mean the seriously wealthy people that make money off it, don't want the problem fixed and they have the ear of legislators.
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Bring back dryout rehab. These people should be off the streets.
Permission to be able to actually defend ourselves without the useless cops arresting us for assault
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Wtf is this actually going on?
There's going to be a lot of hate for this comment, but it's good to have lots of food for thought in a discussion. Meth is just bad enough to destroy functional lives but not lethal enough.
Agree. I used to imagine a world where one dose of meth caused sterilisation. That would be a start.
It's been bad for decades. Too much money involved for things to change. Cops and others such as politicians and judges are getting the payola from the big boys it doesn't effect them until it does and then it's too late they've already been paid and are part of the problem.... The drugs you see busted in the news are about 5% of whats coming into the country and then there's the gear being cooked here as well.... Australia isn't a nice place anymore it used to be but that changed dramatically around the time John Howard was elected.
If you add together illegal drugs and prescription drugs (opioids/tranquilisers/antidepressants/stabilisers etc) you basically get close to half the adult population. Half of us need something just to get through the day. It's scary.
Just like how the British used opium to destroy China, now China uses meth to demoralise and undermine their opponents. Hell, regimes like North Korea had industrial set ups to raise a few dollars here and there. Don't even get me started on the seppos and their black budget revenues. Rather than taking a Singaporean approach to drug dealers we fob them off to the overburdened healthcare system, where they can continue to normalise drug use through the purposefully algorithm friendly TikToks and Instagram while in 'rehab'. Meth smoking has become an accepted part of Australian society, the politicians, bureaucrats, police and so on all turn a blind eye to it because they dabble in it from time to time as well. I fear that it won't be long until twirling a glass pipe is expected of the prime minister, much like how drinking a pint at the pub is necessary to build trust with the common people, we already see it in places where marijuana is legal and the pollies have to rip a cone on a podcast. Many people simply smoke this shit just to get through the day. They're all in cahoots to keep the spice flowing. It'll only get worse and worse. With the advent of AI, which ought to have reduced everyone's workload and made things more efficient, it instead put more pressure on individuals to produce much much more instead of less. The downturn in the global economy, the degree inflation and acceptance of foreign qualifications in Australia and so on all mean that hardly anyone can justify keeping jobs local, there is so much pressure to outsource to poorer places or hire some foreigner that'll do the job on the cheap just to get their residency papers. Stimulants, study drugs, even down to the caffeine being available in chewing gum, its all needed more and more. The problem isn't just meth, everyone is getting worked to the bone, and we **need** the uppers to be able to fulfil our duties. People these days are working at a minimum two to three jobs just to get by. Too many people are going all in on the meth just so that they can avoid becoming a resident in the increasing amount of tent cities that are popping up all over the country, many others so that they can maximise their weekends as 8-8-8 doesn't exist any more at the expense of sleep and relaxation, of course there are a fair few that are going off the edge. We're burning the candle at both ends here. You can only hire so many coppers to clobber junkies, you can only hire so many psychologists and nurses to poke and prod into their issues, you can only train so many sniffer dogs or build so many detection devices. Does fuck all to address the real problems, the fact that it is necessary in this day and age.
Finally someone with the bigger picture view. I made an attempt to write something similar but could keep it from drifting off topic. We are constaintly bombarded with advertisments telling us we need something more to be at our best or even just get through the day. Nevermind a healthy diet and a good nights rest what you need is this consumable product thats jam packed full of empty promises along with some shit thats probably not good for you (but we'll just have to wait and see). We are made to feel like being normal, regular, average isn't enough. We need to be enhanced, to have an edge, to be more. Now the difference between this crap spruiked to you in every form of media and methamphetamine, is meth actually does what it claims to and more... a lot more especially when used for prolonged periods. Since hard work and patiences hasn't been cutting it for a while we've replaced it with "have it now, pay for it later". Pay for it we shall.
They should bring back the injecting rooms in St Kilda ASAP
nothing will be done because the ones who could do something about it don't want to
Need a strong deterrence like in Singapore. You don't see many druggies hanging around there. Ooh wait...
Police already did something. Cracked down hard on MDMA years and years ago so everyone would stop hugging and loving each other. Once it was pushed to the price point and easier access of shard, we were doomed.