SUBSTANCE CONTROL
HOW WOKE ARE OUR WEEKEND HABITS, REALLY?
Social and environmental concerns are having an impact on our recreational drug habits.
by now, most of us have a Keepcup (or three) and have at least considered going vegan, yet what we consume at 2am on a Sunday doesn’t always reflect those same values. According to both the National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre and the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program, cocaine consumption in Australia is on the rise. The clandestine nature of the substance’s production and distribution means the associated human toll is virtually immeasurable, though Mexican authorities estimate more than 60,000 people are missing amid its drug war alone (that’s on top of the more than 31,000 people murdered in the country last year). Then there’s the environmental fallout – it’s estimated that four square metres of rainforest are destroyed for every gram of cocaine produced.
Cat*, 32, is part of a new generation waking up to the knock-on effects their weekend habits are having. “I’m mindful that by taking a substance, I’m contributing negatively to certain social, ethical and health issues that I would never otherwise want to perpetuate.”
One substance providing a more conscious – and increasingly popular – alternative is ketamine. First developed in the ’60s, it’s a short-lived anaesthetic that has found favour as a recreational drug – in small doses it can leave users feeling relaxed and disconnected from their bodies, and in larger doses, trigger psychedelic-like hallucinations. It’s not at all harm-free – it can cause anything from dizziness to breathing problems – but according to the World Health Organization, overdoses are rare, and it is said to have a lower dependence potential than caffeine or alcohol. Now in the mainstream and (almost) free of its “horse tranq” connotations, ketamine has become “the drug of choice for our dissociated moment”, says The Cut, and considered a comparatively low-harm reprieve from our stressful times.
That said, the substances so many of us indulge in remain illicit. Despite the ACT legalising the personal use of cannabis in January (the first jurisdiction in Australia to do so), we’re considered to be behind many other countries, including the US, where 11 states have legalised marijuana, while 33 permit it for medical use. In 2001, Portugal became the first country to decriminalise the consumption of all drugs. Since then, use has declined among its 15- to 24-year-old population, and the drug-induced death rate is now five times lower than the EU average.
Until we inch closer (if at all) to legalisation, there are “lite guilt” options for those seeking a high. On the dark web you can find libertarian cocaine suppliers claiming to deal directly with farmers, not cartels. And there is hope the wokeness we apply to other areas of our lives is catching on: in the 2019 Global Drug Survey, more than 80 per cent of people who use cocaine said they’d support a regulated, fair-trade market for the drug – and the majority said they would pay more for the final product. Cat, for one, supports the idea: “I really enjoy substances when I do have them, but [without] more regulation over the supply chain, I know there are bigger issues that use is feeding into… Ideally, there’d be no negative human cost attributed to me having a fun time.”