In Reply to: Yikes posted by ohboy on Saturday, 31. July 2004 at 01:06 Bali Time:
I don't think anyone would deny that petrol sniffing and other forms of substance abuse are not uncommon in Australia and other countries whose residents are regular visiters to Bali. Many activities not traditional to Bali have been introduced to Bali by generations of foreign tourists.
Many people who do drugs seek to justify their behavior by citing real or imaginary "benefits" and probably some of them actually believe what they say.
When I was young and impressionable, [a long time ago], many of my well meaning friends tried to encourage me to smoke, because it would "calm my nerves, do me good, etc". Thank goodness I wasn't influenced to start that destructive habit.
It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that some nice but naive Balinese people have been encouraged to try petrol sniffing on some pretext or other. Just because I have not personally seen something myself, I don't automatically deny its existence.