The Ice Problem

Last week, before I published my last post, I spent AN HOUR looking through Google Images for a specific level of Lemmings.

Lemmings was a game I used to play on my first computer around 1995 - the good old MS/1.Lemmings is a strategy game where you guide adorable and hapless Lemmings from an entry point to an exit point - but in your way are obstacles where you need to build bridges and dig holes and sometimes, blow up the odd Lemming or two.

As I was driving home from work the other day, I was reminded of a level which provides a useful metaphor for the current battle against the drug Ice.

What has been frustrating me lately is so much of the effort to tackle the drug Ice is targeted at the end of the issue - rehabilitation etc. While this end is undoubtedly important - where is the money for preventative health?

The level this reminded me of was one where there were a TONNE of obstacles in your way to the exit point, and you sit there thinking, "Oh my, how will I tackle all of this? But in the level, it was a case of actually scrolling backwards, and there was another exit right there - you just had to turn everyone around. This is the same way I feel about the battle against illicit drugs - maybe if we look at some of the simplest options - look at things we can do at the beginning rather than at the end, then we might be looking in the right direction.

As it turned out, I couldn't find a screenshot of this level - some 20+ years after playing it. but the point remains. Prevention is always better than a cure.

What can we do then?

Again though, a lot of this comes down to education. As a society, Australia is battling with excessive eating and limited physical activity, as well as poor attitudes towards drinking and the current hot topic, family violence. We need to really go back to the drawing board and look at how we are bringing up our kids, the values we instil in them, and encourage them to become strong, independent and healthy adults. We need to break the cycle and we need to change attitudes

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Suggestions welcome bloggers, how are we going to break the cycle?