Dying – forever younger
This week we discuss people I haven’t seen for a few years. Phil the sparkie (not his real name) who breathed his last aged 36.
Phil was short and stocky. He was straight, married, and the person everyone would look at in a room — wondering why every eye focussed on him. It was his energy, life, humour.
Phil was made of money — he had 14 tradies working for him at one stage. He lived life to the full with holidays, great clothes, the best work ute. He loved his ’roids, acid, Es, cocaine, party drugs and some prescription ones as well. We, his friends, knew what was happening, but kept babying him — picking up the pieces and never confronting him with the reality that we loved him as he was.
Now he’s dead. We lied to ourselves that it was OK. It’s not.
I met Mark (not his real name) when he was 19. He had just been diagnosed with HIV. I haven’t seen him for 11 years. He has been in various ERs and pronounced DOA three times due to drugs gone wrong. At his 30th he was so whacked he didn’t realise what day it was — for three days.
John is an ice maiden who survived. Charles is 40 and unrecognisable in thought, act or physically since he began the downward spiral. Stuart prescribes his own medication to such excess that at 43 he looks and acts 73.
Why is our ghetto dying? For 30 years we have said it is OK to take anything that gives us that little extra on the dancefloor. Now the dancefloor is empty.
Hard on the heels of the ’80s AIDS epidemic, the sinister drugs epidemic has taken hold. The venues are empty in some cases because the people are dead. Stone cold dead. Many never made it to 40.
It is time to stand up and be counted. It is no strange phenomenon that sees our sporting clubs grow while many forms of social interaction decline.
It is on the sports fields that our bodies are allowed to move. Where we meet and make genuine friends, because what you see is what you get. There are no ‘Oh she’s just had a few too many wines,’ to justify one’s behaviour. If we lose our temper we are responsible for it, if we break the rules we are penalised.
Live, play and move. Team Sydney provides 28 different groups for you to start your sporting journey. Find us at www.teamsydney.org.au
The TAC / RTA advertising campaigns suggest there may be a use of ‘Scare Mongereling….’ [I am from the country you know!] but that it becomes ineffective as people become desensitized to them.
I am not against the use of illegal drugs, or the most destructive one in contemporary society – alcohol. I just get really upset when people don’t realize their potential – whatever that may be.
The most creative people, the best artists, the most out-there designers, the most amazing people-people: lost to society and to our community more particularly because of drugs/alcohol.
Moderation is good, living a healthy active lifstyle is fun, and provides balance in our sedentary lives.
Phil:
I am not sure about the stats re: gay / straight society drug use. I have reviewed literature on the ‘net but nothing is really current. In 2005 the BBC reported ‘unverified sources’ – surveys taken in gyms showing lots of Ice use in the gay population.
Stevie Clayton former CEO of ACON would be able to quote a dozen bits of research on this issue.
Wally – see what you have started. Last week you talked about politically correct/incorrect fat people, now drugs. I thought you were a sports writer. Maybe trying to attract people into sport by promoting how exciting / healthy the sports are. Scare mongering / calling people out is a short term get the numbers in approach. Maybe the promotion of how exciting a volleyball game can get, or the adrenaline rush from scoring that medal winning goal in soccer!!! If we are to remove ourselves from the stereotyping that others do we need to remember not every gay guy goes out dancing every weekend and takes drugs.
Do gay people take more illicit drugs than other sections of Australian society? Not that I mean to downgrade the dangers of overdosing, I just wondered if there was any statistic evidence about it?
The general acceptance of excessive drug use – including alcohol – in the G&L community is so widespread that there’s actually an expectation that you will use drugs and/or drink heavily in social situations. If you don’t, you’re considered odd or not part of the team – just like the broader Australian society really.
I loathe being around people (straight or gay) who are drunk or out of it – they’re unpleasant and their behavior’s unpredictable. So I stay well away.
Just like the rest of the country, the G&L community needs to learn to respect the decisions of those folks who don’t want another drink (or any drink at all) or don’t want to pop a pill or do a line, instead of looking askance at them and trying to goad them into joining in with the rest of the boozed-up drug-whacked crowd.
Bravo, Wally, for tackling an issue that many people in the community refuse to face.
Gary – what about alcohol and cigarettes and just general poor health? What about driving? I think you’ll find any one of those kills more than these “illicit” drugs.
We need to focus on WHY people take these drugs (dangerously) rather than focusing on the drugs themselves.
Gary, you are the ultimate wowser…piss off
illicit drugs kill !
This message needs to resonate loudly with those pushing the “harm minimisation” message.
This fluffy term wont stop those from overdosing and dying because of one’s taking of too many illicit drugs.
Lets dance but let not kill ourselves !