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Aussies the biggest recreational drug users in the world - report

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June 27, 2012

AUSTRALIANS and New Zealanders are the biggest recreational drug users in the world, according to the 2012 United Nations World Drug Report.

The use of ecstasy is in decline in Australia, but cocaine use is on the rise and Australians and New Zealanders consume more marijuana per capita than any other country.

Altogether, annual use among Australians and New Zealand for all drugs except for heroin “remain much higher than the global average”, said the report, published a short time ago in Vienna.

The major destinations for cocaine traffickers continue to be in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, suggesting the Mexican drug cartels are continuing to make strong inroads into the Oceanic market.

The report states that cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance across the globe, with the highest prevalence of use among Australians and New Zealanders.

Between 9.1 and 14.6 per cent of the population use the drug, compared to the estimated annual worldwide usage of 2.6 to 5.0 per cent.

The report, which mostly relies from statistics gathered in 2010, says that while cocaine use has decreased in North America, its use is up a full percentage point in Australia with 1.5 to 1.9 per cent of the population using the drug.

Ecstasy use in Australian declined from 3.7 per cent to 3.0 percent between 2007 and 2010, but this might be explained by the fact Australia reported more ecstasy lab busts than any other country.

The report also noted strong growing trends in the black market for pills.

“There was also a statistically significant increase in the use of pharmaceuticals for non-medical purposes in Australia, with annual prevalence for persons aged 14 and over rising from 3.7 per cent in 2007 to 4.2 per cent in 2010,” said the report.

“Cannabis remains the most prevalent drug in Australia, as well as the main substance accounting for demand for treatment for substance abuse (50 per cent), with heroin and amphetamines accounting for almost 20 per cent of treatment demand.

“Of the 1,790 drug-related deaths reported in 2010, nearly 40 per cent were due to opioids and approximately a quarter attributed to benzodiazepines.”

The report also indicated that Australia may be a victim of its own high reporting standards, especially in regards to cocaine, because countries such as China and India did not provide information for the report.

But the decrease in ecstasy use may not be because of its fading popularity but because of seizures.

“In Oceania, seizures also continued to increase in Australia, where 112kg of ‘ecstasy’-group substances were seized in 2010, compared with 54kg in 2008 and 59kg in 2009,” said the report.

Australia had the highest number of lab busts in 2010, with 17 shut down.

But the report said: “Despite a decline in reported ‘ecstasy’ manufacture, it is worth noting that some countries, such as Australia and Indonesia, reported an increase in the manufacturing capability or size of laboratories.”

The report also found that most Australians who used more than one drug also used cannabis, but the majority of cannabis users - 61 per cent - did not use any other drug.

Most heroin seized moving into Australia was sourced from South-West Asia but Australian use overall remained low. This was attributed to the lasting effects of worldwide 2001 heroin drought, which caused many users to switch drugs.

Damage by disease to 2010 Afghan poppy crops has painted a picture of lower opiate use worldwide, but the report warns the recovery of the crops is likely to see an increase in heroin use once again.

Globally, cannabis remains the most widely used drug followed by amphetamine-type stimulants, including ecstasy.

 

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Those aussies sure know how to have a good time...

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havent heard zombie reports from Austrailia.

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New Zealand is gateway country.

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I don't understand how you guys can afford all this drugs. I heard coke, heroin, meth and all that are unpayable, how do addicts pay for that? Also heard that stuff like acid and molly is very expensive. Who can tell me some prices?

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not sure how addicts get by. lots of fat australian friends/family to con and steal from?

i don't know if T would approve of talking about prices but what's the use anyway unless you can compare purity? coke is said to be a pathetic joke. meth is fairly unreliable because every hand it passes through is the hand of a meth head.

acid is good and quite reasonably priced considering depth and duration. cheaper than the stimulants you mentioned.

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Using prices from 2007-08 it gave as one example: “the wholesale price for a kilogram of cocaine in Colombia, a source country, is reported to be $US2348. By comparison, the same amount of cocaine had an Australian wholesale price of between $US150,000 to $US250,000. . . . wholesale prices in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada ranged between $US10,000 to approximately $US70,000 per kilogram.”

And it's not just cocaine. For heroin the wholesale price for a kilogram in Britain was typically $US29,569, in America $US71,200, and in Australia a whopping $US221,304.

For ecstasy the wholesale price for 1000 tablets was $US10,000 in the US, $US6468 in Britain, and up to $US25,344 in Australia.

 

 

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You are not alone.

In fact, drug users are a significant minority in this country. Is the oppression destined to continue forever? Would a racial minority put up with extremist laws that prevented them from enjoying themselves? MEDICATING themselves?

How outrageous.

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I don't understand how you guys can afford all this drugs. I heard coke, heroin, meth and all that are unpayable, how do addicts pay for that? Also heard that stuff like acid and molly is very expensive. Who can tell me some prices?

 

You pay for drugs by selling drugs :P

Buy an eight ball, cut it a bit, sell 2 and a half grams off keep a gram for youself and some profit.

Trust me.

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Especially when a gram in Sydney is only 0.8 grams.

Those prices listed are so incorrect its not funny. You cant make money by buying a kilo of coke for $221,000 or 1000 pills for $25,000. Well at least not enough to make the risk worth it.

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edit: ^ you guys are really doing it tough ..

also $25,000 ? - who is spending 25 grand

you can't get high off a snooker ball ..

Edited by bulls on parade

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You can't play snooker with an eight ball...

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haha

damn it.

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Ha this talk reminds me of a guy i met at a pub in Melbourne, who very openly admited he used to jump 'junkies' etc each chance he had as they always had either hundreds of dollars on em, or hundreds of dollars worth of drugs. The guy was a total tripout!

D00d

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The report looks way overblown. Not an uncommon occurance with mainstream media.

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Especially when a gram in Sydney is only 0.8 grams.

Those prices listed are so incorrect its not funny. You cant make money by buying a kilo of coke for $221,000 or 1000 pills for $25,000. Well at least not enough to make the risk worth it.

 

I reckon the coke price would be about right, a kg of pure would make a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot of kgs of aussie coke :P

I thought 1000 pills were more like $3000? :/

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I thought 1000 pills were more like $3000? :/

 

Right after they repress them with Caffine and some other puss.

I agree. The gear the average joe gets is likely jumped on 10 times before the see it. Even pills at least once I'd say.

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AUSTRALIANS and New Zealanders are the biggest recreational drug users in the world, according to the 2012 United Nations World Drug Report.

Gosh, I had no idea there was a competition. I wish we'd been told, then we could have gone in and given it a *real* caning ;)

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How far offshore do you have to be in a houseboat to be in international waters? Sort this out, quick smart :P

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