I apologise...

if I appear to be random and disorganised this year. That's because I am, which causes me to be even more random and disorganised because I'm stressed. VCE is not fun for the parents either, let me tell you. For some reason the youngest has dropped her bundle this year and we have been cajoling, poking and prodding her through VCE. I am empty. I have no clue how to get her moving again, she has 2 weeks until exams. Yesterday in a test exam, she wrote 2 lines. No. It was not a 2 line type of exam either. She says she just can't remember the info. *sigh* 

My 2 bobs worth on the Cousins thing:

People who use drugs won't stop using them until *they* want to, either their life becomes so shit, they have a near miss, or they just realise that they don't want to live that way anymore. It doesn't matter how much detox and rehab they do, it won't stick until they want to stop using drugs.

 It's not as simple as stop using drugs just because others want them to or because people are *concerned* about them. Drug addicts will tell you whatever you want to hear and appear to cooperate until you go away and they can access their drug of choice again.

Mind you, I don't think holding someone up as a role model and marketing them to the public as a role model if you know they have a drug or alcohol problem is a good idea. Pressure is in everyone's life, adding more pressure when you know they have problems is not a good recipe although it may seem that they're a marketers dream and can earn you money, increase exposure etc. Eventually it will rebound. Noone is above the law and although it's a cliche, the public expect that even celebrities and heroes receive the same punishment as the average person