DOING DRUGS WITH
PAUL DILLON

The Australian Government has made it clear it wants us to stay home. If we want to 'flatten the curve' and prevent more people dying we must all play our part by 'social distancing'. According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning, if 80% of people stay at home for the next three months - for most of the time - Australia "has a chance to get the upper hand" on COVID-19. It goes on to say that currently we've managed to cut our social contact by about 50%. So, put really simply, if we want to get back to some kind of normalcy we need to do more ... I'm sure many had a similar response to me when I read 'three months'! I had to read the article a couple of times to make sure I got it right and wasn't spreading so-called 'fake news'. Three months is a long time to isolate yourself from others and stay inside your home if you're single or a couple, it's going to be an eternity if you have children, partic

It's 4.30am on a Saturday morning and I'm looking at four emails in my Inbox all from parents who are desperately looking for some kind of assistance in dealing with their teens who have 'gone off the rails'. It's the same story every week. It may be a different drug that they're struggling to deal with now but when I eventually make contact with them the problems all started with alcohol. Too often I hear a statement from a parent like "My 14-year-old daughter may be drinking alcohol but at least she's not using ice!" While some may believe that it's 'only' alcohol, the reality is that this is a drug that many adults experience problems with and when you look at the potential impact it has on young people there are so many reasons why parents should try to 'delay, delay, delay'. Some of these include: alcohol-related car crashes are a major cause of death among young people. Alcohol use also is linked with teen deaths by d