A survey of Darwin's homeless population, the so-called 'long grassers', has found about half drink almost every day and the median weekly quantity for men is nearly 91 drinks. A long-term Northern Territory alcohol reform advocate, Doctor John Boffa, says the research by the Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation shows alcohol policy in the Darwin region has been an 'abject failure'.
Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation's chief executive Ilana Eldridge says the long grassers are almost all Aboriginal people. "They live wherever they can," she said.
"There are large numbers, we estimate around 2,000 people on any given night sleeping rough in Darwin."
The research found many will drink as much as they can lay their hands on.
"People are drinking to get terribly drunk, they become unconscious, they'll sleep it off and then they'll start looking for alcohol again," she said.
Ms Eldridge says previous work by the Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation found four in every five Aboriginal people living on the streets in Darwin showed symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.
But she says there are not any services to help them deal with traumatic events and she believes people are drinking to self-medicate.
"This Government sees this drinking and this homelessness through the prism of antisocial behaviour rather than seeing if for what it is, which is a deep trauma," she said.
Click here to listen to the News item that featured on tonights ABC News. It again highlights some of what I have been saying.
I found this below video on you tube also which gives you an idea of how 'long-grassers' live. Often many don't even have tents. They also don't as a result wash or shower so combined with the heat, they do sadly, smell bad. If they need to be admitted to hospital the nurse has to try and coach them into showering, for the other patients benefit, as much as their own.
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