Scourge killing Aussies

THIS single pill has tremendous power. It makes criminals rich, gets kids high, forces Australia’s Federal and State governments to spend billions of tax dollars fighting crime, on healthcare and drug prevention. It also kills young Australians.

The ripples caused by this single pill are felt around the world, from Chinese chemical factories, drug manufacturers in the Netherlands, drug-dealing crime lords in Australia, high-level dealers and lowlevel pushers, to a friend handing it to another in the moshpit of a music festival.

Those ripples can also turn into a tidal wave of grief for the family and friends of a young Australian who dies from an overdose — with their whole life ahead of them — only to leave their parents utterly devastated and grief-stricken.

This is The Ripple Effect, an unprecedented special investigation into the world of illicit drugs and the impact on all of those who come into contact with them.

It is confronting, challenging, raw and emotional. It presents the facts and the impacts. It will at times make you uncomfortable, anxious or angry, but importantly The Ripple Effect is also about education.

Every decision a young person makes that leads them to put a pill in their mouth, and every second in the first few minutes a friend suffering an overdose could be the difference between life and death.

This investigation busts myths, offers advice and essential information for young people approaching a long, hot summer of music festivals right across the country.

The Ripple Effect examines the origins of drugs such as MDMA, retracing their journey from the palm of the hand of a young person at a music festival, all the way back to where the chemicals to cook them slosh around in a barrel in China.

But this is more than an expose on drugs, The Ripple Effect explores the unabiding ripples of sorrow and heartbreak that wash over the families of those who have died from overdoses, and the message they have for young people thinking about popping a few “harmless” pills for a bit of fun.

MDMA and drugs like it are illegal. Young people are taking extreme risks with their futures to smuggle them into music festivals — and some are paying for it with their lives.

The choices they make in that moment can cause ripples that last a lifetime.

If you or your kids, friends or family could end up with a pill in hand this summer, this investigation is essential reading, watching and listening.