Dr Nicole Lee of Curtin University’s National Drug Research Institute and director of 360Edge, told ABC Adelaide’s Morning program,
“One of the problems in the reporting [on ice] at the moment is it is really focused on the really negative outcomes.
“Twenty-five per cent of people who use methamphetamine fairly regularly will experience some type of aggressive or psychotic symptoms.
“That means 75 per cent of people who use it don’t experience that.
“We miss that bigger context when we are just focusing on the very pointy end.”
Dr Lee appears to believe that illicit drug use outcomes should be focussed on the user and the affects on their behaviour in society. She even suggests that greater media coverage may lead to drug use increasing.
“Sometimes those scare tactics and media campaigns can actually increase young people’s interest in using.”
Read the full story here.
The Innocent Victims of Methamphetamine
With recent media coverage of the growing ice problem in Australia, including the ABC’s “Ice Wars” series and Ray Martin’s special “Ice: The Scourge of Regional Australia”, Dr Lee suggests that the use of methamphetamine, in Australia, is decreasing. Australian Crime Commission figures and the number and size of recent busts refute that suggestion.
What Dr Lee’s report doesn’t touch on however, is the growing number of innocent victims who are having their lives disrupted and in some cases ruined by methamphetamine.
At Narcotect, we hear plenty of real-life stories from clients who are experiencing the effects of Australia’s Ice Epidemic. From the stories we hear, it’s not decreasing and it’s not going away.
Firstly, there’s the families who have to deal with the effects of meth addiction.
According to a recent article in Queensland’s Courier Mail, there are a number of parents who are being drug tested up to 15 times a week to retain custody of their kids under tough new child safety laws.
Pregnant women, parents with long histories of drug abuse and people accused by their own families of negligence have all been forced to take mandatory testing under the new rules.
“Ice abuse is sadly a major issue for families known to child safety,” Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman said.
“The steep increase in ice in our homes has been described to me at child safety service centres at Ipswich, Maroochydore, Logan and north Queensland, in fact, at almost all of the centres I have visited recently.”
Read the full story here.
As well, the effects on families can include increased risk of domestic violence, theft and sale of family assets to pay for drugs, loss of employment and income, as well as families paying thousands of dollars for rehabilitation as state funded programs become overloaded.
The other group of innocent victims are those who have no direct contact with drugs or the people that use them, but suddenly find themselves and their families affected by the drug’s insidious reach.
These are the people who have unwittingly bought or rented a home previously occupied by meth users or manufacturers, or have bought a second-hand car severely contaminated by users smoking inside the vehicle. Or own a motel or storage unit rented by drug manufacturers and destroyed as a result of the toxic chemicals used in the cooking process.
These people often face significant losses as a result of the toxic chemicals contaminating their property.
Costs can include:
- Initial testing, cleaning, remediation, and re-testing of property to ensure it is habitable again. This can range from $5,000 for low-level contamination to tens of thousands right up to demolition of a property if the damage is severe enough.
- Legal costs, and loss of income from contaminated rental properties, as well as the above clean-up costs.
- Disposal of property such as furniture, appliances, bedding, kids toys, and linen items that have been contaminated being in close proximity to meth contamination.
- Disposal of a vehicle that has been heavily smoked in. It is virtually impossible to properly clean a vehicle to safe levels due to amount of soft fabrics and trim as well as hard-to-reach places inside the cab.
- Health costs from illnesses resulting from living in a methamphetamine contaminated home. There are many cases where families have moved into a new home and started experiencing illnesses, skin rashes, headaches, and other health problems never before experienced. When tested, family members are found to have levels of meth in their system consistent with regular drug users. Children and people with low immune systems are especially venerable.
Qld Government Launches Anti-Ice Initiative
Last week, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, launched a multi-pronged strategy to tackle the growing scourge of crystal methamphetamine, with a particular focus on regional centres.
“We need to come down hard with the full resources of our law enforcement agencies on the criminal groups producing this drug, be they outlaw motorcycle gangs or international syndicates,” the Premier said.
However, others at the front-line of methamphetamine addiction say that rehabilitation is the key. That arresting and prosecuting users isn’t going to solve the problem.
“You cannot out-police addiction,” said Mel Symon, a director at Brisbane’s Hader Clinic.
“Arresting people and putting people in jail is just one part, it doesn’t cure addiction, because addiction is a disease.”
The Hader Clinic is a private facility, often the destination for families at their wits’ end. By the time they meet Ms Symon, the downward spiral has steepened into a nosedive. And Ice doesn’t discriminate.
Read the full story here.
Don’t Risk It – Test It. Surface Testing For Methamphetamine
As more methamphetamine is imported in Australia, the cost per hit is coming down, and ironically, the quality is apparently getting better as more of the drug is manufactured in commercial-type labs overseas.
That’s not to say that there are less DIY labs out there in our suburbs, there are just less large scale labs being busted as criminal gangs moved to distributing more imported product than local manufactured.
As a result, more and more users are getting hooked on the drug and the chances of any one of us becoming an innocent victim is increasing.
Anyone considering renting or buying a property that is not brand-new should be conducting preliminary surface testing before signing a Sales and Purchase Agreement or Tenancy Agreement.
If you are buying a second-hand car, you have no idea of the vehicle’s history and whether it has had meth smoked in it by the previous owner. You should surface test the interior it before buying.
Australia’s ice problem is growing despite what some experts claim. Don’t become another innocent victim of the growing methamphetamine epidemic. Conduct your own testing and be certain before you buy or rent.
