Art Vs Science's Jim Finn & Confession's Michael Crafter talk honestly about drugs.

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Michael Crafter has been straight edge since the age of 17. As the former front man for hardcore outfit I Killed the Prom Queen, and now as the lead singer of Confession, Crafter is a vocal advocate for 'straight edge' life.

I used drugs when I was a kid [first trying marijuana at age 10]. If it was possible to take, I would have taken it. I was around the punk scene - all my mates were in bands, I was playing in a band. I tried everything and all my mates started getting heavy into speed. Then they started shooting up, so I've seen it all first hand. I've seen some crazy stuff. People would be OD'ing left, right and centre. Their parents would be trying to get them off stuff, and they'd be trying to sell shit out of their parents houses. That was crazy. As time went on, I just worked it out; this is just disgusting, this isn't what I want. So I got away from it [...] I'm 34 now and I haven't touched anything since I was 17.

I definitely have copped the religious thing a lot but if anyone reads my bands lyrics, they're gonna realise there's not much religion going on, other than how we stand against it. When I tell people I don't drink, they go 'what? Like, today?'

[The turning point] was when I started to realise that people were shooting up heaps (none of the people I was playing in bands with). It was more my mates who I used to go to shows with when I was younger, and I was catching up with them and I was like 'this is disgusting'. Then we (me, JJ and Jona, who was in Prom Queen), started hanging out and going to hardcore shows in the city, and getting away from the down south punk scene. I just kind of found out what straight edge was from that. I don't need to drink and I don't need to smoke to be involved in music. I remember going to watch Guttermouth and Strung Out and those bands, they'd be so off their heads, you'd be like, "are you f***ing kidding me, I just paid $20 or $30" ...they were just so bad it was ridiculous.

Q: What do you say to people who think drugs help them connect with their friends?

I think it's total bullshit, that's not reality. I go out and see bands all the time and I see people stage diving and jumping off the stage, and singing along and stuff. I go home and say 'that was a sick show'. I don't need to be pissed, or be stoned or be on acid to realise it's a good show.

A lot of my mates in bands that I've toured with can't tell me what show they played 4 days ago, I can tell you about shows I played 10 years ago. I've got this crazy memory when it comes to tours and shows, cause I wasn't drunk and I wasn't on drugs.

I've lived my life, I've got to tour the world and I've got to remember it all. That's better than being some cooked stoner. If you're putting a lot of substances into your mind, I just don't think you're really living it. It's kind of like half the experience is there and the other half you're drowning because you're not going to remember it the next day.

The way people are nowadays, and this is going off the ice epidemic, and what I'm hearing from people I know. People are telling me like 'yeah, all this money went missing from work' because this guy's a drug addict. A friend of mine from years ago is in such a different world, and it's all from taking ice. It's having such a big effect on people's minds. They actually start to look gaunt. Google doesn't lie, they start to get scabby sores. It's horrible. But people think it's ok now. Honestly, the way it is, the laws probably aren't punishing people enough for something like that. If you decriminalise [ice] I don't think it'll get better. People don't think they're going to get caught, maybe catching a few more people might scare them, change their life and put them in rehab.

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Jim Finn, singer and keyboardist for Art Vs Science, had his first taste of illicit drugs at 17. But unlike Michael Crafter, he says drugs can enhance his perception of the world.

My early experiences, like a lot of people, was marijuana. It was a positive experience and it didn't live up to the fear mongering that had been instilled in me from a young age by mass media. It made me distrust what I'd been told and made me think that maybe drugs weren't as bad as we'd been made to believe.

Other friends around me [at] festivals, have had MDMA or marijuana, mushrooms or cocaine. I don't know any of my friends who have had problems with drugs, doing to it to the point of excess. You're never told about that side of drug taking culture, you only ever hear the negative side and the horror stories of 'ooh try it once and you'll be hooked'.

Humans are curious creatures. We like dangerous activities. They give us a thrill, a rush of excitement. We jump off cliffs into the ocean, we skydive, we ride roller coasters and; we take drugs.

Obviously not everyone enjoys those sort of activities and not everyone who has tried drugs enjoys them. A lot of people will take drugs once, dislike the effect, and then don't take them again. But they should be allowed the freedom to choose. We're free to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, eat junk food - but why should something like MDMA or marijuana be any different? Many studies have shown these drugs are less harmful and less addictive than many legal substances.

Q: What's your motivation to take drugs?

Just to have a different experience. It's like when you're on holidays, you are physically and geographically taken to a different destination. When you take drugs you're mentally taken to a different destination. You're looking at the world through different eyes, through a different perspective and you're interacting with your friends with a different mind. It's very entertaining, most of the time. Sometimes it's a bit scary but you learn through taking small amounts or doing it in a sensible way, what amount works for you and what drugs work for you, what drugs to avoid.



There are some drugs which you know from real stories are terrible for you, like ice. I don't think you can reasonably argue that [ice] is a beneficial thing to anyone - it causes so much harm to the user and to the people around them. It's probably best kept illegal. But drugs that cause much less harm or no harm at all really, like MDMA, mushrooms and marijuana, it seems like there's not as much to fear, but they're lumped into the same category when people talk about [drugs] to try and scare you out of doing them.

Obviously all drugs are different and require a different approach in regulation based on many different factors but outright prohibition is not the answer.

Much of the danger associated with drugs is because of their illegality. The production and distribution is left in the hands of unregulated producers - from well meaning marijuana growers using insecticides to professional criminals cooking MDMA in a dirty toilet.

There is no duty of care. There is no list of ingredients. There is nothing to say that what we're told is a substance is actually that substance.

If the production of drugs was regulated it would be held up to the same standards as the production of pharmaceuticals.

Many unsympathetic people may simply shrug and say "Well then just don't do drugs!" But people ARE doing drugs and people will continue doing them because they feel good and because they're fun. These dangers do not dissuade users from using. So knowing this surely it is the role of our society and our government to protect these people however we can. Because at the moment the law is a big part of the problem.

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This Tuesday from 9:30pm AEST Tom Tilley is hosting an hour long TV discussion 'Australians on Drugs' on ABC2 speaking to people from all sides of the drug debate. You can stream it live on iview and join in using #ausdrugs or leave a comment on the triple j facebook page.



Remember, if you're having a rough time with drugs, alcohol or anything else, there's always help at Lifeline on 13 11 14 or ReachOut.