Community concern at growing drug culture
CONCERNS are mounting over a growing drug problem in the Melbourne Jewish community following the suspected drug overdose of a young adult in Caulfield last weekend.
CONCERNS are mounting over a growing drug problem in the Melbourne Jewish community following the suspected drug overdose of a young adult in Caulfield last weekend.
The AJN has learnt that late on Saturday night (July 25), a large group of young people, who had gathered to “come down” after an evening of illicit drug-taking, consumed a cocktail of marijuana and prescription pain medication including the morphine derivative, oxycontin, before all passing out.
When they awoke the following morning, one of the youths was unresponsive. The friends called Hatzolah and an ambulance. Paramedics revived the youth with a defibrillator before taking him to hospital, where he was later released.
Hatzolah operations manager Danny Elbaum would not comment on this specific case due to privacy issues, but said the Jewish ambulance service has, on many occasions, responded to drug-related unresponsiveness and “bizarre” behaviour.
Elbaum also said it was “an issue” he sees across many age groups, from under-age teenagers to adults.
“They need to understand that having fun doesn’t necessarily need to be with drugs,” he said.
The Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV), which has recently launched a taskforce into underage drinking, is also aware of a growing drug culture within the community, particularly among young adults.
“I’m very distressed to hear but unfortunately not surprised,” said JCCV president John Searle.
“It is built into their system to take risks. Somehow we have to make them and their parents understand that there are some risks you might take and there are some risks you must never take. ”
Searle said he hoped those affected would learn from the experience.
“I would assume that not only for the individual who suffered this, but also for the rest of them, this will be a huge wake-up call,” he said.
“When I go out to talk to kids about this, they are not going to listen to me, but they would listen to a
19-year-old who can say: ‘Last year, or two years ago, I was in school and I thought it was a great big joke just like you guys do until it almost cost me my life’,” Searle said.
If you, or someone close to you, has a drug problem, visit the Victorian Government’s health information website.