Time to get serious about COVID-induced drug boom
It’s time for us to get serious again about drugs, both legal and illegal, Annette Keppie believes.
COVID-19, the lockdown, and increasing social isolation, are all leading to an increased drug problem in the Colour City, she adds.
But you may be able to help. If your young or old, your skills and knowledge are especially needed, she added.
Annette is the new chair of Orange Community Drug Action Team (CDAT), a not-for-profit group overseen by Odyssey House, attempting to tackle the growing drug problem in Orange.
“We want to get some community members to join our group of Community Service providers on our committee,” she said.
With an online meeting in early September, she says, there’s no time to waste. “Orange definitely has an increasing drug problem at the moment,” Annette said.
“There’s more drinking at home with the lockdowns over the past 18 months. Kids see adults tackling their problems by a few extra glasses of wine and think, ‘that’s a good idea’,” she said.
She says that she suspects that this increase in use could also be occurring with illicit drugs in the community and is only likely to get worse.
“Everyone is down in the dumps, and the longer the lockdowns go, the worse it gets, it’s a simple as that,” she added.
“it’s all-over social media, basically, everyone has been inactive for the past 12 months,” she said.
But there could be the light at the end of the tunnel with the current efforts to revive the Action team
“The CDAT program is an exciting and valuable program that is funded by NSW Health and is an initiative of the that arose from the 1999 NSW Drug Summit.”
The initiative involves a unique approach comprising volunteers including community members as well as workers from government and non-government agencies who come together and pool their time, talents and resources to make their local communities safer, stronger, and healthier by reducing the harms associated with the use of alcohol and other drugs through evidence-based, primary prevention activities.
“The CDAT program and activities raise awareness, cultivates resilience and fosters the development of protective factors that benefit communities, individuals families, and workplaces,” she said.
The group takes a multi-organisational approach to bring together experts from a range of fields related to drug-use.
“It is mostly professionals, social workers, people involved at the front-end of the industry, Mission Australia the police, Lives Lived Well, mainly we try and educate people,” Annette said.
Getting the drug message out early is the key because once people are involved with drugs, it is often simply too late, she said.
“We recently got together a take-home pack for Year 10 students. This included a drink bottle, bags, a take-home esky, all with a drug message,” she said.
“There was also a USB with info on where to get help and the effects of drugs on the body,” she said.
Annette, like so many in the industry, has seen the effects of drugs on lives and families for decades.
“I was a registered nurse for 20 years for I saw plenty of the impacts of drugs, I’m now doing a social work course at uni,” she said.
She became involved when she was introduced to their work at a family fun-day at the local gym and has been a member of the group for 12-months.
“We’ve had a lot of success and I loved being a part of it, but we now need to refocus on the problems that lie ahead of us,” she added.
Illegal drugs are now far more prevalent than they were in country towns and regional cities than they were in her growing years, she believes.
“I think there is, I grew-up in Bathurst in the 1980s and I wouldn’t have thought about it, known much about it,” she added.
This, she believes, makes the event on Thursday, September 9 so important in our constant battle to reduce alcohol and drug use in our communities.
“We’re looking for the general public to get involved, we particularly want young people in to help us decide what it is that’s needed, who to target for our campaigns,” she said.
“But we also could do with some older people, retirees and those with time on their hands,” Annette concluded.
The Orange CDAT Meeting is on Thursday, 9 September 2021 at 11am. Those interested can go to:
“People can also ring me as well, that’s fine,” Annette said. Her number is 0437 912 449.