This  follows police warnings and a large number of assault offenders filling the city's Magistrates Court.

Buffs Club executive manager  ?Karen Graham said while the venue was not immune to alcohol-fuelled fights and other incidents, the rise in drug use was also wreaking havoc on the city's night life.

``It's not always about the alcohol, it's not the only thing we deal with,'' she said.

``Synthetic drug use is a big thing _ you can tell the differ?ence in them, they have this determination.

``People on alcohol can have that as well but this is different.'' She said representatives from Mount Isa's licensed venues, along with the city's police and liquor licensing authorities, held a meeting  every two months to speak about  issues in the area.

``We are dealing with a lot of  ?outside effects as well,'' Ms Graham said.

``We can monitor the alcohol consumption but when it comes to what they've had prior  [to coming to the club], it's out of our control.'' 

Mount Isa Magistrate Rod Madsen ?ntsa?passed comment on the issue?ntesaid during proceedings early last week when sentencing a 21-year-old assault offender to  ?jail time, that  it was getting to the stage young, violent people were a ``law unto themselves''.

?ss-1%This was followed by a study released  last week showing almost half of Australian children aged between 10 and 12 believed alcohol was the main cause of violence in their community.