Legal+loop+hole+highs

Assignment 3: Research Report Analysis of a Cultural Artefact on the WIKI Barry Moncrieff Student ID: N8804133 Tutor: Judith Meiklejohn

**Topic ** **“The drugs don’t work, they just make it worse…” ** + =

**Cultural Artefact **  My cultural artefact relates to the destructive nature of synthetic drug use in Australia. The family shown in the picture is the Kwan family who live in Sydney. The first photo shows the family of four enjoying a meal at a restaurant, Stephan and Vanessa Kwan are seated with their children, Michelle and Henry. The second image shows the synthetic drug known colloquially as “N-Bomb”. Henry consumed a small quantity of this drug in the hope that it would help him with his studies. The hallucinogenic drug made him feel that he could fly and he subsequently fell to his death from the family apartment. The final image is from Henry’s funeral. **Public Health Issue ** There has been renewed media attention and public concern on emerging areas of illicit drug use, particularly in relation to synthetic drugs sold over the internet and in unregistered market spaces. According to ANPHA (2013), following the exposure, and intense community discussion of, the largely unregulated and poorly understood use of performance enhancing drugs across many sports in Australia, public and government attention in these emerging forms and trends of ‘illicit’ drug use is intensifying. Governments both state and federal are always at great pains to stress that in relative terms, the prevalence of use, risk and burden of disease from illicit drugs remains extremely low compared to the harms and disease and/or injury burden associated with alcohol and tobacco use in Australia. However, the concentration of use and risk amongst young people will mean high levels of parental, community and government concern will be ongoing.

**Literature Review ** Illicit drug use in Australia is relatively high. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2010 National Drug Strategy Household Survey almost 40% of people aged 14 and over in the survey had used an illicit drug at least once in their lifetime (AIHW, 2011). This is an alarmingly high figure, in terms of total numbers it equates to around 7.3 million people in Australia, 3 million of whom had used an illicit drug at some stage in the last 12 months prior to the survey (AIHW, 2011).

According to Bright , Bishop, Kane, Marsh & Barratt (2013), synthetic drug use only came to prominence in Australia in 2011 with the rise of Kronic, a well-known brand of synthetic marijuana that was prevalent in Europe at the time. The ability to source these new designer drugs over the internet meant that young people with access to a laptop were able to purchase a wide range of drugs. As soon as people started overdosing and dying as a result of taking these relatively unknown substances the media immediately started putting pressure on governments to respond. As with a lot of new drugs that flood a marketplace, government response at the time was reactive and piecemeal (Bright et al., 2013).

These new so called “legal highs” or “designer drugs” fell into a strange legal loop-hole as at the time they were legal to buy on the internet and legal to supply on the internet (Vardakou, Pistos & Spiliopoulou, 2011). In fact, Vardakou et al., (2011) contend that the internet is effectively an unregulated marketplace where adolescents who are curious about these new drugs are exposed to literally thousands of synthetic drug selling sites. Most of these internet based sites operate out of the European Union and China, many of these sites push the positive effects of these various drugs whilst playing down or denying any harmful effects that the drugs may cause.

The dangerous side effects associated with synthetic drugs (particularly synthetic stimulants like the one Henry Kwan consumed) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">include profound agitation, super-human violence, organ failure and extremely high temperatures <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"> (Bearup, 2013). These drugs are also often taken in conjunction with alcohol and other controlled substances such as heroin, cocaine, ketamine and MDMA. According to <span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Vardakou et al., (2011), this can heighten the effects of the drug and/or reduce the severity of the comedown. The point being made here is that these drugs are often consumed at venues and events when there are other illicit drugs within easy reach.

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">These new drugs, that are sometimes sold as “bath salts” are causing problems for law enforcement as well as the health sector. Bearup (2013) states that in the first half of last year, the UN identified 33 new drugs entering the market. Police are not able to seize these types of drugs as they are yet to be classified as illicit. The other issue that law enforcement agencies face with these new drugs is the lack of a traditional supply chain (Bearup, 2013). It is believed that in Henry Kwan’s death there were only 3 links in the chain, an industrial chemist, the postal service and two school children. That clearly does not match the typical model of an international drug cartel and it is this small scale yet wide spread of international chemists and multiplicity of small time individual users that have the world’s Police playing catch-up (Bearup, 2013).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Users are attracted to these new drugs because, according to Bearup, (2013) they are unable to be detected in workplace drug tests. This is a double edged sword though because it also means that emergency department physicians cannot detect the drugs either when they do a drug scan on an overdosed patient (Hall, Heyd, Butler & Yarema, 2013). Therefore, illicit drugs that are not classified by authorities or not yet known to the medical profession represent an increasing public health concern to users, paramedics and health care providers (Hall et al., 2013). <span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">Vardakou et al. agrees and states that once a designer drug becomes classified and controlled by authorities a new successor will have already been created and ready for export over the internet into the hand of users where local law enforcement has no jurisdiction over the international supplier. Vardakou et al. argues that countries like the USA are trying to prevent this from happening with vague new laws that ban chemical compounds “substantially similar” to illegal substances. It is clear though that this is an ongoing public health concern that is going to destroy many young lives into the future.

**<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Cultural and Social Analysis ** <span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Society and culture are crucial to consider when addressing a public health issue as important as illicit drug use. Within Australian society illicit drug users are more likely to be diagnosed with or treated for a mental illness, they also report very high levels of psychological distress (AIHW 2011). <span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Subpopulation groups tend to have higher proportions of illicit drug use than the general population (AIHW 2011). The subpopulation with the highest proportions of recent illicit drug use were homosexual/bisexuals with 35.7% surveyed using illicit drugs regularly according to the 2010 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (AIHW 2011). Traube (2012), argues that Ewart’s interpretation of Weber’s Social Action Theory can be applied to drug related risk-taking behaviour.

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> With the use of a Social Action Theory model, Traube’s study concluded that within the subpopulation of young men who have sex with men (YMSM) the men who were older, white or with low social support were at an increased risk for substance abuse. Studies like this do have limited applications though as they are quite specific and tend to target a specific group or type of person, in the case of Traube’s study, they targeted men who regularly frequented certain venues and whilst the sample size was high it was skewed towards a particular behaviour rather than a subpopulation.

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Henry Kwan does not fit this subpopulation though. He was a young hard working Year 12 student who lived with his parents and younger sister. He studied hard in an effort to become a doctor or a lawyer. He took the drug, on the advice of a friend in an effort to help catch up on studies as he had fallen behind having recently been unwell. He is the type of mythical first time fatality drug user that the media loves to portray, just like Anna Wood, the schoolgirl from Sydney who died after taking an ecstasy tablet.

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The main issue that needs to be addressed here though is the need for the education of youth about the dangers of illicit drugs and the illicit use of licit drugs. The community needs to be educated about the dangers of the so called “herbs”, “bath salts” and “legal highs” a <span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">nd the fact that these drugs have the potential to kill the user with just one dose (Bearup, 2013).

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Henry Kwan’s father is now pushing this message from a deeply personal level at community drug forums to other concerned parents in an effort to try and prevent another tragedy similar to the one that has shattered his family. He may be preaching to the converted though as there are groups within our society and cultural forces beyond the control of common sense and reason that do not seem to ever get the message. Regular users of synthetic drugs, known as psychonauts, are not likely to hear these messages of concern as they have read information on an internet chat forum and are therefore “informed” about the dangers that synthetic drugs represent. One forum, psychonaut.com has over 27,000 members! **<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Analysis of the Artefact and personal reflection ** <span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I was initially worried that my artefact would appear tacky and insensitive with more shock value than actual substance. However, upon reflection I feel that it represents the cold hard facts of the situation that has befallen the Kwan family. The Kwan family went from a happy complete unit to a shattered wreck in the space of a day. If the media portrayals can be believed, this was not a situation where their son spiralled into a drug induced destructive path of no return. Henry apparently made one stupid fatal decision that has destroyed this family’s life as they knew it.

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This story resonated with me as a parent too. I hope that this is something I personally never have to go through. The relative ease of access to these types of drugs is perhaps the most worrying aspect of this topic I've learnt whilst doing this assessment piece. International industrial chemists/suppliers appear to be several steps ahead of law enforcement on a state, national and global level. I’m sure that I will come across similar scenes to this tragedy in my future role as a paramedic and I hope that my training will allow me to deal with the situation at the time and upon reflection in the future.

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This assessment piece in conjunction with the oral presentation has really opened my eyes to the whole world of illicit drug use. It is an extremely complex multifaceted issue that seems to have a profound impact on people that use illicit drugs and the people that have to deal with the consequences of illicit drug use.

**<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Reflections ** []

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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">References <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Anpha.gov.au (2013). //ANPHA - State of Preventive Health 2013//. [online] Retrieved from: http://anpha.gov.au/internet/anpha/publishing.nsf/Content/state-of-prev-health-2013 [Accessed: 15 Oct 2013].

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2011. 2010 National Drug Strategy Household Survey report. Drug statistics series no. 25. Cat. no. PHE 145. Canberra: AIHW.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bearup, G. (2013). //| The Australian//. [online] Available at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/high-alert-why-synthetic-drugs-are-so-hard-to-police/story-e6frg8h6-1226673596866 [Accessed: 31 Oct 2013].

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bright, S. J., Bishop, B., Kane, R., Marsh, A., & Barratt, M. J. (2013). Kronic hysteria: exploring the intersection between Australian synthetic cannabis legislation, the media, and drug-related harm. //International Journal of Drug Policy//.

Ewart, C. K. (1991). Social Action Theory for a public health psychology. //American Psychologist//, //46//, 931– 936. <span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; line-height: 1.5;">Hall, C., Heyd, C., Butler, C., & Yarema, M. (2012). “Bath salts" intoxication: a new recreational drug that presents with a familiar toxidrome. // CJEM //, // 15 // , 1-6.

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hillebrand, J., Olszewski, D., & Sedefov, R. (2010). Legal highs on the Internet. //Substance Use & Misuse//, //45//(3), 330-340.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Psychonaut.com. 2013. //Member List - Psychonaut//. [online] Available at: http://www.psychonaut.com/members/list/ [Accessed: 2 Nov 2013].

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Traube, Dorian E. (2012). "Utilizing Social Action Theory as a framework to determine correlates of illicit drug use among young men who have sex with men.". //Psychology of addictive behaviors//, 26 (1), p. 78.

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Vardakou, I., Pistos, C., & Spiliopoulou, C. (2011). Drugs for youth via Internet and the example of mephedrone. //Toxicology letters//, //201//(3), 191-195.