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SYDNEY - While politicians and parents fret about the growing use of illegal drugs in Australian cities, the problem has surfaced in an unlikely quarter: the shearing shed.
One shearing contractor in Western Australia is so concerned about his men handling their fleecy charges while under the influence that he has introduced random drug tests.
Brendan Boyle, based in the small town of Broomehill, believes that 40 per cent of his shearers used to smoke joints before coming to work.
Others took speed to stay alert.
And he was particularly concerned about the use of crystal meth, or "ice", a highly addictive drug usually associated with clubbers rather than rural workers.
"The people that are on this stuff - they become completely complacent to everybody else in the shed," Mr Boyle told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
"So they waste away, they lose weight, they don't eat, they've got no social skills. They've got no motivation. It's a terrible, terrible thing."
Since he introduced the random drug tests, thought to be the first in the industry, he has seen a transformation.
His 20 workers - who are required to provide a saliva swab for testing every six to eight weeks - are healthier, more sociable and more productive.
They no longer take recreational drugs even at weekends, he believes.
The Australian shearer, celebrated in poems, ballads and paintings, is an enduring rural icon.
But the reality of the job is back-breaking work, low wages and a mind-numbing routine.
The number of people in the industry has fallen steeply in recent years.
Illegal drug use is believed to be on the increase in shearing sheds generally, and Mr Boyle's scheme has the blessing of the West Australian Shearing Contractors Association.
The association is considering running workshops for contractors on how to conduct drug testing programmes.
In Australia, as in Britain, there has been rising concern about the use of crystal meth, a synthetic drug that can be smoked, swallowed, snorted or injected.
In the US, 12 million people are thought to have tried it, and in some areas it is more popular than cocaine or heroin.
It is said to give a "rush" similar to the one produced by crack cocaine, and also increases sexual arousal.
Vikki Gates, secretary of the shearing contractors' association, told the ABC that it had "very rapidly" become a problem because it was so cheap to produce.
Mr Boyle said "speed balls" were also a drug of choice.
"You drop one of them into a glass of drink and have that, that'll whizz them through the day," he said.
"That'll get them through Monday and probably half of Tuesday.
But then they come down off that and they're just absolutely flat, absolutely flat for the rest of the week."
He said: "If I can do something on a small level and make it not acceptable in the industry, well by Jeez, I'll give it 100 per cent."
- INDEPENDENT
