Baby boomers who drink and take drugs risk a range of physical and mental problems that younger substance users don’t necessarily face.
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When police coax information from low-level offenders with threats of harsh sentencing, it breeds distrust in the community and ultimately contributes to mass incarceration.
Has D.A.R.E. moved beyond the “just say no” days of the ‘80’s and '90’s?
AP Photo/Nick Ut
Jeff Sessions was met with considerable skepticism when he announced his desire to revive D.A.R.E. But it turns out that the current program is nothing like the ineffective D.A.R.E. of the ‘80’s and '90’s.
Social Services Minister Christian Porter told Q&A that ‘rates of drug use amongst unemployed are 2.5 times higher than amongst employed people’. Is that correct?
Generally, people under 40 have reported a decrease in recent illicit drug usage since 2001, while people 40 or older have reported an increase in recent years.
AAP Image/Paul Miller
The proportion of population who use legal and illegal drugs has remained stable or trended down. Fewer young people are using, but the proportion of older people using drugs and alcohol has grown.
A medical cannabis grower.
Shivanshu Pandev/flickr
Scientists have never found a medicine to help crack users who want to decrease their consumption. Canadian researchers think cannabis might be the answer.
There has been a dramatic increase in the amount of steroids seized at the Australian border over time.
AAP
Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said conducting on-site drug tests at public events “safely and quickly is not really a practical option”. But the technology is available.
Monotony, loneliness, trauma, isolation and alienation create a demand for drugs inside.
@prison.uk
A BBC report has revealed the extent of drug use in UK prisons. It will be difficult to tackle the problem without a radical review of sentencing practices.
A spontaneous memorial shrine to an overdose victim in Celestial Lane, Melbourne.
Peta Malins
Public memorials to overdose victims might not only shift who we consider worth grieving, but also encourage us to reflect on the nature of memory and mourning, inclusion and exclusion.
There has been particular concern about methamphetamine use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
Matthew/flickr
Around 2.3% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians 15 years and over report using speed or amphetamine in the past year. This is similar to the general population.
Unlike fine wines, the older generation of drinkers aren’t improving with age.
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Awareness of social factors, such as society’s perpetuation of masculinity, are critical to understanding the interconnections between trauma, disadvantage and substance abuse in young men.
Prince reportedly died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl.
EPA/Dirk Waem
What exactly is addiction? What role, if any, does choice play? And if addiction involves choice, how can we call it a “brain disease,” with its implications of involuntariness?
Globally, women make up one-third of all drug users, including approximately 3.8 million women who inject drugs.
Reuters/Stringer