Yuyutsu,

A bit late for that now, I'm afraid :(

Dear Joe,

<<A bit late for that now, I'm afraid :(>>

It is unfortunate but understandable that we can have friends who fall to drugs, but I, nay probably the rest of us here, am curious and interested to learn from your first-hand experience how it happens and what are the feelings involved, to befriend a burglar, someone who made so many families miserable, shaken and scarred for life. If you don't mind telling us.

He was a really nice bloke, actually, once he'd given it all up.

Well, almost: he ODd a couple of years ago. So he was his own biggest tragedy.

I wonder if drugs are at epidemic proportions n most country towns, especially for Aboriginal people. They seem to cause so much dreadful damage to so many lives, every week, every day.

Has anybody done any reearch into what component of the abridgement of Indigenous life expectancy can be attributed to drugs ? An average of ten years ? Fifteen ?

Joe

My idea of combating crime is to nip it in the butt by not giving people the chance to be bad in the first place. Nr 1 step & may I point out a proven step at that is exposure to discipline.
As just about 99.9 % of young peoples' mentality is influenced by what is going on around them in their environment we can't expect them to develop a sense of discipline & responsibility when it is not on display for them to appreciate & absorb.
We really need many changes from education to entertainment. Target TV programmers, target violent video game producers, target violent toy manufacturers the list is long. By "target" I mean for parents & others not to purchase these nonsensical items. The moment the sales drop they'll change their product. If some do-gooder academic objects give them a whack in their stupid snout & tell them to butt out.
Stop taking children to such idiotic events as Ape-ball or as it is better known Foot ball. The Nr 1 factor in the rise of violence is the insane & incessant promoting of competition. Competition has no place in social development of very young children. Interaction & joy is what's missing in their poor little lives & that's why so many are lost by their teenage years.
Callous adults could be exposed & taxed to the hilt for their blatant exploitation which results in so much dissatisfaction & sadness in young peoples' lives & indoctrinates them away from decency.
A non-military national service is the only alternative in my experience. Perhaps youth camps could be established for adventurous social interaction & gaining a sense of belonging & self-worth.

Indigenous life expectancy can be attributed to drugs ? An average of ten years ? Fifteen ?
Loudmouth,
There's no data on what the life expectancy was before european arrival but we do know that the european life expectancy was at least 30 years shorter than it is now. From my experience indigenous life expectancy is in line with their life style drugs or no drugs just like any other race.
I would like to live a better life too but our authorities constantly interfere with my attempts to achieve that.

Hi Individual,

I found this fantastic article right on that topic, last year:

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/10/10/1215627109.full.pdf

From the article, you can identify life expectancies for people in hunter-gatherer societies generally, those ex-hunter-gatherers who are condemned to live in life-long welfare, "fringe-dwellers" if you like, and those who have successfully made the effort to integrate themselves in modern societies.

As well, one can discern differences in life expectancies in peasant societies (i.e. Poirot's idyllic, pre-capitalist life-style), early industrialised societies and today's industrialised societies.

As the article says, there has been a stunningly linear improvement in lfe expectancy since about the 1840s in Britain, at about three months for every year.

Now that's what you call 'useful research'.

Regards,

Joe