Last month we discussed
Roberta Cava’s revised edition of her book Dealing
with Domestic Violence and Child Abuse – Society’s Judicial Disgrace! This month we will discuss Australia’s
epidemic with drugs.
SYNTHETIC AND
ILLICIT DRUGS
Last month Crime Stoppers
launched a new “Dob in a
Dealer” campaign. In their notification
they state, “Did you know that Australia
has one of the highest rates of illegal use per capita of drugs in the world?”
I have written books and have
done hundreds of talks about drugs. Here is some of the information I discuss:
Many people believe that marihuana (cannabis) is safe. They’re wrong! They
might be buying synthetic cannabis instead. Synthetic cannabis is one hundred times stronger than marijuana. It is
essentially plant material that has been sprayed with chemicals and can cause
irreparable kidney damage.
Spice was the earliest in a
series of synthetic cannabis products sold in many European countries. Since
then several similar products have been developed, such as Kronic, Northern
Lights, Mojo, Lightning Gold, Lightning Red and Godfather.
People smoke these
products, so they can experience a 'high' like marijuana. Synthetic cannabis is also sold as a tea for
eighty dollars for a three-gram packet. It’s been associated
with an increasing number of deaths and serious adverse effects.
Some people have
experienced severe mental health effects including hallucinations, psychosis,
panic and anxiety after taking synthetic cannabis. Although they’re popular
among young people (especially teenagers) evidence suggests they are also
popular with adults in their twenties and thirties. A 2011 survey of 316 users
of synthetic cannabis products found that fifty per cent of users were aged
twenty-eight and over and a quarter were over thirty-five.
And that is not
the only synthetic drug out there.
The over two hundred
new synthetic drugs are often marketed in little packets that look like
collector cards using such names as: OMG, Tai High, Rave, Kapow, Amsterdam
Royal, Kryp2nite K2, Black Mamba, Smacked, Spice, Benzo Fury, Minga, White
Revolver, Blueberry and the one that has caused innumerable deaths – 251-NBom
(i.e.: N-Bomb) that is twenty-five times stronger than LSD.
To date, these new
drugs have killed hundreds of people in Australia and many more world-wide.
They can be ordered over the internet mainly from China where the drugs are
legal, but as soon as they leave China, they are illegal. They are cheap and
are sold as ‘legal highs.’ There have been many deaths and users (some of them
very young) suffer from terrible health problems such as strokes, heart damage,
kidney/renal damage, violent outbursts, psychosis, irrational fears and
depression.
The synthetic drug
trade has invaded our youth and we’re having a terrible time keeping these drug
dealers from hurting our youngsters. Some of the people selling these synthetic
drugs are earning up to thirty thousand dollars a day, so it’s hard to
discourage them from selling them when the profits are so good, making users
guinea pigs and crash-test dummies, while the criminals rake in the profits.
There’s a new
counterculture that exploits the legal loopholes that give users a
mind-altering high by changing the chemical makeup of synthetic drugs to keep
ahead of what the police can do to stop them.
Our biggest
problem is that we don’t know what’s in many of these drugs – but we do know
the results – organ failure, seizures, and paranoia.
Community-minded people are encouraged to
report seeing any of these drugs before someone else ends up in an emergency
ward of a hospital or die by calling the Crime Stoppers hotline (valid across
Australia) 1-800-333-000. Callers can remain anonymous.
At the end of May 2015, a drug derived from
cannabis lost its status as a poison in Australia and will be included on the
list of prescription-only medications. Trials of medicinal cannabis were begun in
2015 in Queensland, NSW and Victoria. Cannabis itself remains illegal in all
states of Australia.
You can learn more about this
topic by reading Roberta Cava’s book “Keeping Our Children Safe” that can be ordered from Amazon Books:
Why not look up our web page: www.dealingwithdifficultpeople.info and learn about all of Roberta Cava’s books (34+) - sample chapters are
free.
