Drugs
The first thing you write about drugs is that they're illegal, they're bad for your health, and if you deal'm, the law wants to jail you. If you take'm, the law wants to punish you. Thousands of people love'm.
Ironically as always, it's alcohol that can be the worst drug to handle and in a hot, seaside place people tend to drink more. The more remote and hotter the place becomes, the greater the beer consumption, with Australia's most northern city, Darwin, saying it all. The Cairns region is no exception from the beer culture. In fact, there's a whole subculture of alcohol use unique to the region. The Aussie esky, an icebox to some, is a hallowed cultural icon containing not holy covenants, but something significantly more important - cold beer. Tinnies of it. Stubbies full of the golden neck oil. Be careful to observe the locals' etiquette where the foam stubby cooler must at all times shroud and guard the holy substance. Towns such as Cooktown not only have eskies, but highly trained eskies with wheels that follow their owners around dutifully. Come festival time in June, Cooktownians have even been known to drag the unplugged freezer around on a cut down shopping trolley.
Don't get swamped by Australian beer culture however, 'cause bear in mind, Australia is the top of the international pops right now when it comes to wine making. If wine's your drug, then Australia is the place to explore. But wine isn't a tropical product and this region just drinks it; bananas make lousy wine.
Apart from the local magic mushrooms, about the only 'high' unique to FNQ would be smoking the dried skin of the cane toad. Both these substances however, are illegal and neither of them very safe without a lot of local knowledge.
Pot smoking is pretty prevalent in Australia with about 60% of the under-45 population having tried it once and with 30% of the same population using it. It typically costs $AU300 an ounce plus or minus $AU50. Its quality is a tad better than what most northern Europeans have seen, but it's not as well cured as Americans would expect. Its possession is illegal in Queensland and pretty much frowned upon, despite softened, often cautionary or parking-fine style police policies in other Aussie states. Fines have all sorts of odd limits but around $AU300 to $AU400 with a magistrate's dressing down, is not uncommon for personal use quantities. First offence doesn't often attract a criminal record but the visa implications are unpredictable for both Australians seeking visas elsewhere or visitors doing the opposite. Foreigners generally don't get kicked out on a minor drug charge. Getting an extension on the visa might be a different story however.
Heroin has a grip on the region, as it does in more extreme city situations, though it's not vice-like. It's pretty common knowledge that if your VCR is knocked off, there's a high chance it's related to the desperate culture of addiction. Still, many locals in the area leave the doors unlocked as an indication of how bad the heroin problem is. The best advice to those curious about the possibility of heroin use in this region is to forget it, as you'll stand out, you won't be easily supplied and you're likely to be arrested.
The numbers of discreet users who hold down professional careers, unaffected by small usage is much greater in the big cities, but it does occur throughout Australia as well. This region does it share of rehabilitation and detoxification.
The alertness drugs seem alive in the region through the travelling community itself. Be aware of the contents and control the dosage at all times unless you know exactly what to expect, if you again don't mind breaking the law. The law views the trade in pills and powders with much more disdain than it does for example, drink driving. Most of the times, these drugs are being used in parties or social shindigs of one kind or another. Illegal ecstasy often sells for $AU50, plus or minus $10 a pill. To many western travellers on the party trail, Australian prices are expensive. Allegedly, the quality is unpredictable as is the manufacturer's ability. Bear in mind, if you get sprung with a huge amount or get caught trafficking, you could be looking at prison time.
Less popular, but still an occasional use, is Leary's last laugh ... LSD. In the many years since its international arrival its dwindling use remains restricted to the nutty few who enjoy super alertness. Again, as is common in the western world, LSD is illegal and unpredictable in strength. Keep Valium available, try introspection and meditation.
Wait five years and computers will have all the cyber hallucinations that even the best acid queen could dream up. Again LSD isn't a regional local drug, it makes its way to the region through the visitor. For every local there are over 10 visitors dropping into the region each year. LSD is unpredictable in cost and can range from $AU10 to $AU25 per tab.
Ever looked at powder on the corner of your shoe on a hot day. All white and pastie? That's what happens to cocaine if you expose it to the hot, wet tropics. Coke dealers, may be aware of this problem, unlike their American tropical counterparts, are few in number. And at $AU200 a gram, it's not big in a city where people can't scam juicy, city wages. Government concern about coke in this region seems right off track when compared to the cheaper and more toxic speed.
Cocaine is available in the region, but only rarely, and there's no consistency. It'll burn a hole in your wallet, give you a nose bleed and shrink your dick, all for $AU200 a gram most of which is a neutral powder. Fines are steep. Dog squads are onto it. Dealers stand out as cocaine isn't a drug common to this neck of the woods.
Cheap and apparently not exceedingly hard to source. Hundred dollar a gram speed punches a lot of toxin and nervous disorder into the people recovering from its use. Coupled with spirits, it's deadly .... the alert drunk. But sometimes people just use it to push themselves through the fun but late venue. More and more, night life creeps closer to dawn endings. Physiologically, one of the most harmful substances, it's not hard to pick the jaw-grinding participators. It has a use as a super coffee to some, but fewer respect its downside.
There are 'guns for ganga' stories to our direct north in New Guinea, and as always, it's the western democracies consuming the drugs and the third world supplying it. New Guinea pot into Australia as an issue is a bit of a federal police drum-up to many a pot smoker. Australia is not a drug exporter, importers of drugs to Australia are nothing short of mad or very professional. The size and remoteness of the northern Australian shoreline is a guaranteed bust to a drug dealer because anyone moving about in 'nowheresville' tends to stand out. Almost all shipping and any aircraft are detected well outside of Australia's oceanic limits, with funds coming not only from drug agencies but quarantine and immigration as well.
At airports and shipping terminals, the detection at international gates is as good as you'll see anywhere in the western world. Dogs, radar, back door intelligence, are all the usual and Cairns International airport is no exception. There are a lot of other places on the planet where it would be easier to import drugs. People thinking of bringing them into this country are up against a tougher obstacle than they would think.
The reality of the tropical north is that the vast majority of locals occasionally have a few drinks. Some of those may have a joint. There isn't a sizable heroin problem in this area. Party drugs come and go with party people. Use and trade of drugs is illegal, so ya better not take'm. But some people find'm fun, controllable and worth the hassle. So whether it be a drink, cigarette or a pill - stop, space your usage, don't over indulge and compensate with diet and exercise. Let's face it, a holiday in far north Queensland is a high in itself.