Released yesterday, the worrying report shows that incidents of drug use and possession have risen by a staggering 120 per cent in Bendigo over the last four years.

In 2011, 119 people for every 100,000-head of population were caught either using or possessing drugs.

But fast-forward just a few years and this figure has ballooned dramatically to 261 people in every 100,000.

As sobering as these statistics are, however, they pale when compared to the challenge facing the Macedon-Gisborne community 

Over the same period, this region witnessed a jaw-dropping 309 per cent increase in use and possession incidents.

It is a desperately sad fact that drugs in all their forms are an ingrained part of Australian society.

Children are exposed to drugs from an earlier and earlier age and the temptation is ever-present come high school.

Despite a myriad of education programs warning of the very real dangers of drug use, too many are succumbing and rolling the dice.

For some, it will be a brief phase until they mature to the point where they recognise to risk is just not worth taking. But for others, the decisions made while under the influence of crushing peer-group pressure or mere curiosity will forever haunt them.

Few drug addicts, if they are honest, will not regret the first time they made the choice to light a joint or pop a pill.

What seemed at the time to be a relative harmless, perhaps one-off action, eventually reached the point where the option to say “no” suddenly became far more difficult.

If there was an easy answer to reducing the rate of drug use then it would have long ago been discovered.

The reality is it is a problem that continues to confound health professionals, law enforcement agents, politicians, teachers and parents in equal measures.

Even those who choose to use drugs probably struggle to put their finger on exactly what drives them to consume such potentially harmful products.

When it comes to addressing the problem of drugs in society, it is truly a case where prevention is better than cure.

- Ross Tyson, deputy editor