ZEITGEIST: substance CONTROL

HOW WOKE ARE OUR WEEKEND HABITS, REALLY?

By now, most of us have a KeepCup (or three) and have at least considered going vegan, yet what we consume at 2am on a Sunday doesn’t always reflect those same values. According to both the National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre and the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program, cocaine consumption in Australia is on the rise. The clandestine nature of the substance’s production and distribution means the associated human toll is virtually immeasurable, though Mexican authorities estimate more than 60,000 people are missing amid its drug war alone (that’s on top of the more than 31,000 people murdered in the country last year). Then there’s the environmental fallout – it’s estimated that four square metres of rainforest are destroyed for every gram of cocaine produced.