| Rather than green-lighting drug use, we need more resources directed into a national prevention of use campaign. Millions spent on administering and facilitating ‘safe’ injecting could be better spent helping our communities to become more proactive in preventing initial use and intervening early. It worked during the Tough on Drugs Campaign run by the Federal Government from 2000=2007. Why not again? Our kids are worth it! |
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VAPING - A GATEWAY TO CIGARETTES AND OTHER DRUGS |
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Current research has found vaping to be the biggest risk factor for teenage tobacco smoking:
https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/98511; Homepage | Quit Vaping Facts
Data from Australian Secondary School Students Alcohol and Drug Survey predates ‘huge’ increase in vaping
E-cigarette use is the single strongest risk factor for adolescents taking up tobacco smoking, outranking social norms, poor mental health and misconceptions about smoking harms, recent research published In August found.
The findings come from 4,266 Victorian students aged 12 to 17 who anonymously took part in the 2017 Australian Secondary School Students Alcohol and Drug Survey (Assad), with researchers then focusing on 3,410 students who reported never having smoked even part of a cigarette.
The students were asked questions about their use of substances, mental health, social groups, school absenteeism and e-cigarette use. They were also asked how likely they believed they were to be smoking cigarettes in the next year.
More than 1 in 10 of the students who said they had never smoked were nonetheless susceptible to tobacco smoking, the study, led by Cancer Council Victoria and the University of Melbourne, found.
Published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, it found the strongest factor for susceptibility to future smoking was having ever smoked e-cigarettes. Four other factors – perceiving smokers to be more popular than non-smokers, having at least one close friend that smokes, perceiving smoking one or two cigarettes occasionally as not dangerous, and having symptoms of depression – were also independently associated with vulnerability to smoking. Source: Prof Sarah Durkin, principal research fellow at the Centre for Behavioural Research at Cancer Council Victoria.
ACTION NEEDED - Prof Becky Freeman, a leading tobacco control expert with the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health, said the research added weight to “why we need to act on e-cigarettes”.
“Not only because e-cigarettes [in] and of themselves are dangerous for young people, but that they also potentially can lead to smoking uptake, which we have decades and decades of evidence knowing just how harmful that is,” Freeman said.
“For the first time in more than two decades, this year we have seen an increase in teen (14-17-year-old) smoking in Australia. Vaping remains a threat to Australia’s world-leading progress in driving down smoking prevalence.”
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HELPFUL ADVICE IF YOU NEED TO QUIT VAPING OR SMOKING |
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SOME GOOD NEWS - SCHOOL INITIATIVE THAT WORKS!
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VANCOUVER IS DYING - RECENT EYE WITNESS REPORT ON CANADA’S DRUG ISSUES AFTER LEGALISING CANNABIS |
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A South Australian couple who have just returned from Vancouver were so horrified about what they saw in the streets, including open drug use, bodies left motionless in gutters - all due to liberalising and legalising drug use. In fact they were shocked to see open cannabis use. |
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A new study published by Drug Free America Foundation has revealed troubling results. In states that have legalized high-THC marijuana—either medically or recreational—the frequency of marijuana-impaired driving is 32 percent higher than in states that haven’t.
The study suggests that the loosened marijuana policies in the 18 less restrictive states resulted in a million more cases of marijuana-impaired driving. The study is being released as law enforcement throughout the country are participating in the If You Feel Different, You Drive Different. Drive High, Get a DUI. high-visibility enforcement period. The enforcement effort, coordinated through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, extends through the Labor Day holiday weekend. In the study, the 50 states were divided into two groups, representing: (1) less permissive states that have only acted on decriminalizing marijuana use or implemented low-THC medicinal programs, and (2) more permissive states with high-THC medicinal programs and full recreational marijuana programs. In 2017, eight states had adopted full recreational marijuana programs (Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington) and ten states had enacted higher-THC medicinal programs (Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont). Incidentally, seven of these states have since adopted full recreational programs. Adding to the concern is the fact that fatalities in the U.S. from marijuana-impaired drivers have risen dramatically between 2000 and 2018, rising from 9 percent of all fatal crashes to 21.5 percent.
“The loosening of marijuana restrictions in states that have legalized the drug has introduced a more permissive culture. At the same time, little effort has been made to address the potential risks of marijuana-impaired driving,” according to Amy Ronshausen, executive director of Drug Free America Foundation.
“Americans are clearly responding to the policy enactment of marijuana programs, with self-reported past-year marijuana use skyrocketing from 10.4 percent in 2002 to 19.3 percent in 2021,” she added. Simultaneously, marijuana potency has also grown exponentially, from the “Woodstock Weed” that contained THC levels of 1-3 percent to the modern commercial marijuana that averages THC levels of between 19.2 and 21.5 percent.“Making matters worse, the challenge of detecting and enforcing marijuana-impaired driving laws remains an imperfect science.
With some states in Australia softening laws on cannabis and driving - we need to learn from the above.
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Keeping Your Kids Safe from DRUGS |
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PARENTS, CARERS AND YOUTH WORKERS.
In the May AND August E-bulletin we featured some tips on how to talk to your kids about drugs AND How to keep your kids safe from drugs. We now focus on …. |
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What to Do if Your Child is Involved with Drugs? |
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In some situations, you may suspect your child is using drugs due to behaviour changes such as skipping school, associating with a new peer group, stealing, or if their grades start to decline. If you confirm that your child is using drugs, try to stay calm and learn what led them to drug use. Obtain health advice, consider grounding – but use the time constructively to talk to the child about health and lifestyle consequences. Reading true accounts may be helpful. Here are some: Acknowledgement of source: Parental Do’s and Don’ts When Talking to Kids About Drugs (fherehab.com) |
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DRUG PREVENTION EDUCATION
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OPTIONS FOR SCHOOLS IN 2023 |
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Free - Online, age-appropriate drug prevention for schools for Years 5-12
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NotEvenOnce is now back within schools around Australia and the level of engagement has increased dramatically with the harms our young people are facing. Covid had impact, many are turning to substances as coping strategies.
However, vaping must be the most insidious one. Targeting young people heavily via social media. Competitions on the best tricks with the vape clouds, taking selfies behind your teachers back in class and on and on. We are loving having conversations in this space, challenging myths around vaping and the feedback has been amazing. We’ve now spoken to 80242 young people in Australia. It’s vital work, bringing the reality of health harms to young people in a non-judgemental, engaging, and challenging way. What are their choices going to be? What type of influencer are they going to be in this space amongst their peers? |
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Kerryn will work with class groups and assemblies, sharing her encounter with drugs. Email: [email protected] |
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- Introduction – explain that this session seeks your ideas, solutions and taking part in an experiment
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- Discussion: “What is a drug?” Can you name some? Did you know that Caffeine and Alcohol are drugs?
- Introduce Experiment: (Bread & sugar cube in water & alcohol: methylated spirits)
- Display Medical models: body organs (liver, kidney, heart) healthy & damaged
- More discussion: Alcohol in the brain, long term: MRI or CAT scan images; Alcohol immediate effects
- Student participation Goggles, 4 participants; Check Experiment
- Vaping movie (2 minutes 14 secs) ; discuss Vaping & Cigarette facts
- Optional – Methamphetamines - Ice (very brief)
- Discussion – Why do people use drugs? Better ways, strength-based message, conclusion.
Total time, approximately one hour.
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drug?” (A drug is a chemical that is not a food that changes the way a person’s body works.)
- (What drugs can you name?)
- Types of drugs: Depressants, Stimulants, Hallucinogens (Nicotine is a Stimulant)
- Drug death #s latest figures (Which kill the most people? The legal ones:Tobacco/nicotine)
- Age of EVALI & other vaping damage much younger than tobacco damage.
- Comparative discussion: tobacco & vaping
- Movie “Vaping: The Hit Your Brain Takes” (2 min)
- Cigarette facts: Quit poster cf with Vaping additives
- Cigarette & vaping packaging: information provided
- Brain chemistry: human brain not mature until 25-30 years, implications of use of damaging substances prior.
- Better ways, strength-based message, conclusion.
Total time, approximately one hour with allowance for discussion
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Books available on the website:
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