The icy grip of creeping death: Deadly drug labs plaguing Sydney

[poledriver]

Here's one from the ABC, it's been in most news sites recently.

NSW police chief wants national taskforce for ice epidemic

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The chief of New South Wales police says the scourge of the drug ice is now so bad that a national response is needed to curb the epidemic.

Commissioner Andrew Scipione says labs producing the highly addictive drug are no longer backyard outfits but huge commercial-scale operations.

He says Australia needs to consider a national summit or taskforce to tackle the problem.

He's speaking here with AM's Emily Bourke.

ANDREW SCIPIONE: This is an epidemic, but it's not an epidemic that's exclusively Australian, this is sweeping the world, this whole ice trade issue is one that just continues to grow. I don't think I've seen a drug that's more dangerous.

EMILY BOURKE: Can you provide a statistical snapshot of the problem in Sydney, I mean, are we just talking about a metropolitan problem?

ANDREW SCIPIONE: No, this is a problem that sweeps right across, certainly New South Wales, I was looking in the past 12 months you know, we've detected over 100 labs and the towns and the suburbs across the state, everywhere from the north to the south, the east to the west and it doesn't matter whether you come from a well to do suburb or in fact a suburb that's struggling, the reality is we're all exposed to this, it doesn't discriminate, it treats everyone equally and it's devastating and life changing.

EMILY BOURKE: In talks with your interstate counterparts, are they experiencing the same sort of thing?

ANDREW SCIPIONE: Similar problems indeed and of course there's the problem that we know this creates for the individuals, the families, the communities. But there's also problems for the police, the police are dealing with dangerous, dangerous people. When they're high on this drug, they're really aggressive, they have superhuman strength and they are certainly prepared to use it.

EMILY BOURKE: So have we reached a threshold at which we need some kind of national summit or a national taskforce?

ANDREW SCIPIONE: I wouldn't object to that, certainly from my perspective I'd be happy to be a player in that and I think that may well be a good idea, but at this stage, that was only a proposal, I haven't heard anything else.

But clearly we need to do all we can. We owe it to our communities, we owe it to our families, our friends and if that's what it takes then we probably should consider it.

EMILY BOURKE: What could it achieve?

ANDREW SCIPIONE: Well if nothing else, if you were to see this as being a crisis, then those who have a role to play it can't over communicate, you can never over communicate in a crisis.

So to talk about some of the issues, the vulnerabilities, the things that we're doing well, but more importantly where we need to improve, that's got to be a good thing.

And if it assists in better educating the community, that's most important.

EMILY BOURKE: From a legislation perspective, what more do you think you need?

ANDREW SCIPIONE: The trade is one that requires some key ingredients in order to make sure that we're doing all we can.

When we start looking at those that are in the business of making, importing and selling this, they have to look for some key things. First and foremost, they need to make sure they've got a market, they need to be able to market it. They also need to be able to get the money that comes from the sale and if we can go after the money, that makes it ever so much more difficult for them to continue in this business.

So, look I've been well on the record as saying we need to move towards a probably more mature unexplained wealth regime in Australia, we need to have the ability to take the money from those that are making the money and putting it back into those areas that will continue to the war, to continue to fight against those that are in this business.

So you know if we're in a position to tighten up some of those loopholes that we have in current law, that would be most useful.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The Commissioner of New South Wales police, Andrew Scipione, speaking with Emily Bourke.

Sept 1st 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2014/s4078005.htm

 

[spacejunk]

What's with this big wave of meth hysteria. Levels of use have been pretty stable for 5 or so years, I thought. Slow news week? A way to distract the public from the real issues?

And yeah, if anything, meth gave me greater physical control and coordination when I used it. Do they have any proof these people are (solely) on meth? (I didn't click the link, don't like giving hits to click bait trash news websites).

I agree with all of the above.
Slow news week -or part of the ongoing battle to paint "drugs" as a "scourge" that can only be combatted by prohibition and law enforcement.
The argument against this mentality is growing so strong - and has the backing of a great deal more logic - that the reactionaries feel the need to exaggerate the folkdevils of meth (and include pop culture/TV references as their understanding is based more in fiction than reality) to attempt to combat it.
The mainstream press is running out of time, and running out of puff...no pun intended.

 

[poledriver]

There is a way out of this ice nightmare

LOOKING back through the eyes of a drug and alcohol counsellor and psychotherapist my journey makes sense, though still it may never to others around me.

Today I help addicts get clean from meth. It is easy for me to see why a person begins to use drugs and how each step leads to greater despair, pain and confusion. I was what was and is still called in recovery terminology a “highly functional addict”.

Many meth addicts are. It’s a drug that helps people study or work longer, with more focus — in the beginning it allows people in many professions to do many things better: dance, talk, have sex.

Many people, I believe, still think of an addict as someone running through the streets doing crime or selling themselves with few teeth in their head. That’s not so for many addicts. Meth can affect everyone.

When I started to realise I had a drug problem I was in my second year of an exchange program studying English literature at a university in Canada. I’d visit my friends in New York on long weekends.

I had already started to experiment with ecstasy and GHB, and had overdosed and been in hospital several times. It was about that time I started to use crystal meth, thinking it was safer than GHB.

A consequence of my meth use was drug-induced psychosis: terrifying hallucinations, not eating, sleeping or drinking for days, sitting by windows watching for soldiers and monsters that were trying to kill me. I’d also chain smoke and listen to imaginary conversations in my head.

After three psychotic episodes in the US, I returned to Australia promising myself I would stop. But addiction had me in its grip. The next two years I was powerless to stop. I met many users on the nightclub scene in Sydney and made friends with men who showed me how to use crystal meth intravenously. By that time I had a 9-5 job but in the next two years my meth use caused me to miss many days of work, led to more psychotic episodes, to unsafe sex and losing my wholesome friends.

Family members grew distressed and concerned about me and my safety. I became an unreliable friend and flatmate, and aware I could not trust myself or my decisions. I felt a lot of shame.

My drug induced psychosis continued. That was and still is the most horrific thing I have ever experienced. I believed the public, soldiers and monsters were trying to kill me in gruesome ways. Worse still, I also believed the world hated me and I imagined and hallucinated I had done terrible things and I would be tortured and executed as punishment.

Those two years of my life I was lost and wretched and full of fear.

Not long after turning 32, a series of events led me to a 12-step program. It was the beginning of a turning point. I thought the program would teach me how to use drugs responsibly. To my astonishment it showed me the nature of my condition in all its cunning and deceptiveness. It began to equip me to beat the condition by knowing the enemy and it’s tricks.

A YEAR after starting 12-step I was improving but still struggling with drugs, so I did a 28-day rehab and stayed clean for seven months. But I relapsed and was “scheduled” to a psych ward for five days. That was the last time I used meth — 11 years ago.

The doctors told me that if I were to use amphetamines again I could become permanently psychotic, so I went to a long-term treatment centre called The Buttery in Byron Bay. I stayed there for 10 months and in Byron for a further 18 months. I dedicated myself to 12-step. I went to meetings daily. I got a sponsor and I worked the steps. I began volunteering. The person who had the greatest impact on me was a counsellor and therapist at The Buttery. She was gentle, nurturing and supportive. Whereas society judges, criticises, hounds and ridicules the addict, she guided me into the beginning of a relationship with myself.

I decided I, too, wanted to become a counsellor and psychotherapist. I studied for a counselling diploma and joined a men’s drug rehab full-time. I also started working in a hospital for people with all varieties of addiction and my best friend and I started a 12-step program for crystal meth addicts in Sydney in 2005.

I have now worked as a counsellor for eight years, mostly with meth addicts, their parents and their partners. I also work in private practice with men who have self-esteem issues.

Cont -

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/op...is-ice-nightmare/story-fni0ffsx-1227046855429

 

[Crankinit]

When they're high on this drug, they're really aggressive, they have superhuman strength and they are certainly prepared to use it.

I never leaped tall buildings in a single bound after a pipe. Maybe my gear wasn't good enough

There is a way out of this ice nightmare

LOOKING back through the eyes of a drug and alcohol counsellor and psychotherapist my journey makes sense, though still it may never to others around me.

Today I help addicts get clean from meth. It is easy for me to see why a person begins to use drugs and how each step leads to greater despair, pain and confusion. I was what was and is still called in recovery terminology a “highly functional addict”.

Many meth addicts are. It’s a drug that helps people study or work longer, with more focus — in the beginning it allows people in many professions to do many things better: dance, talk, have sex.

Many people, I believe, still think of an addict as someone running through the streets doing crime or selling themselves with few teeth in their head. That’s not so for many addicts. Meth can affect everyone.

When I started to realise I had a drug problem I was in my second year of an exchange program studying English literature at a university in Canada. I’d visit my friends in New York on long weekends.

I had already started to experiment with ecstasy and GHB, and had overdosed and been in hospital several times. It was about that time I started to use crystal meth, thinking it was safer than GHB.

A consequence of my meth use was drug-induced psychosis: terrifying hallucinations, not eating, sleeping or drinking for days, sitting by windows watching for soldiers and monsters that were trying to kill me. I’d also chain smoke and listen to imaginary conversations in my head.

After three psychotic episodes in the US, I returned to Australia promising myself I would stop. But addiction had me in its grip. The next two years I was powerless to stop. I met many users on the nightclub scene in Sydney and made friends with men who showed me how to use crystal meth intravenously. By that time I had a 9-5 job but in the next two years my meth use caused me to miss many days of work, led to more psychotic episodes, to unsafe sex and losing my wholesome friends.

Family members grew distressed and concerned about me and my safety. I became an unreliable friend and flatmate, and aware I could not trust myself or my decisions. I felt a lot of shame.

My drug induced psychosis continued. That was and still is the most horrific thing I have ever experienced. I believed the public, soldiers and monsters were trying to kill me in gruesome ways. Worse still, I also believed the world hated me and I imagined and hallucinated I had done terrible things and I would be tortured and executed as punishment.

Those two years of my life I was lost and wretched and full of fear.

Not long after turning 32, a series of events led me to a 12-step program. It was the beginning of a turning point. I thought the program would teach me how to use drugs responsibly. To my astonishment it showed me the nature of my condition in all its cunning and deceptiveness. It began to equip me to beat the condition by knowing the enemy and it’s tricks.

A YEAR after starting 12-step I was improving but still struggling with drugs, so I did a 28-day rehab and stayed clean for seven months. But I relapsed and was “scheduled” to a psych ward for five days. That was the last time I used meth — 11 years ago.

The doctors told me that if I were to use amphetamines again I could become permanently psychotic, so I went to a long-term treatment centre called The Buttery in Byron Bay. I stayed there for 10 months and in Byron for a further 18 months. I dedicated myself to 12-step. I went to meetings daily. I got a sponsor and I worked the steps. I began volunteering. The person who had the greatest impact on me was a counsellor and therapist at The Buttery. She was gentle, nurturing and supportive. Whereas society judges, criticises, hounds and ridicules the addict, she guided me into the beginning of a relationship with myself.

I decided I, too, wanted to become a counsellor and psychotherapist. I studied for a counselling diploma and joined a men’s drug rehab full-time. I also started working in a hospital for people with all varieties of addiction and my best friend and I started a 12-step program for crystal meth addicts in Sydney in 2005.

I have now worked as a counsellor for eight years, mostly with meth addicts, their parents and their partners. I also work in private practice with men who have self-esteem issues.

Cont -

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/op...is-ice-nightmare/story-fni0ffsx-1227046855429

So it's basically one big advertisement for the guy's therapy service.

Hidden agendas and ulterior motives all over the place.

 

[spacejunk]

^ that's the mainstream press for ya. :-/

 

[Crankinit]

It sounds like they're working their hardest to whip up a paranoid frenzy like the PCP/Crack one in the US.

 

[spacejunk]

Sadly, I think a lot of the population that has never had any exposure to "drugs" (obviously we all have in one form or another - but "illicit drugs" struggles to make a differentiation between meth/crack/smack/weed or fucking glue.
The business community that run our major media networks aren't interested in progressive ways of tackling social problems - they just want to maintain the status quo - which means marginalising those who don't fit into their pool of rat race worker drones, and locking up those on the fringes of society.
And of course whipping up enough fear and hype to have their unquestioning audience get on board and support it all the way.

But like I say, I like to think their days are numbered as less and less people under retirement age (in Australia anyway) rely on their bullshit as a way of staying informed about the world. Because the corporate press don't come close to informing anyone about anything - it's mainly advertisements and opinion masquerading as news; as demonstrated in the aforementioned "stories".

 

[poledriver]

'Ice' gains in popularity despite overall methamphetamine use staying stable

Methamphetamine use has remained stable in Australia since 2001, but there has been a significant shift in use from the powdered form of the drug, known as “speed”, to crystal methamphetamine, a more potent crystallised form known as “ice”.

This trend is one of the findings of a 900-page report on the drug’s use in Victoria which was tabled in the state’s parliament on Wednesday morning. It makes more than 50 recommendations across law enforcement, community services and health to help the government tackle the epidemic.

The law reform, drugs and crime prevention committee report found ice in Australia had also become more pure over the past two years, increasing its harmful effects and leading to more hospitalisations.

This prompted the inquiry into Victorian ice use, though it is an Australia-wide problem. On Tuesday the NSW police commissioner, Andrew Scipione, called for a national summit to address what he called an “epidemic”.

Recommendations made as a result of the Victorian inquiry included: better targeting of prevention and education strategies to high-risk groups; ensuring local withdrawal beds were available for dependent methamphetamine users; tackling online drug trading; improving access to residential rehabilitation beds.

The inquiry found an 11% increase in ice precursor chemicals seized at the Victorian border between 2011-12 and 2012-13 and called for a premier-led ministerial council to be established, mirroring the New Zealand model led by the NZ prime minister which has achieved a 50% reduction in ice use.

The rise in ice purity appeared to be linked to growing local awareness and sophistication in how to manufacture it, the report found.

The Penington Institute, which researches substance use and worked closely with the committee in developing the report, released a study on Wednesday which was conducted with the University of South Australia.

Researchers tested Melbourne’s sewage to determine where ice was being used, finding high enough levels for it to have been used by one in every 20 Victorians.

The highest ice usage occurred in the CBD, the study found.

Wastewater from Melbourne Water’s western treatment plant, which covers a population of 1.6m, had the highest levels with 51.4 doses of methamphetamine per 1000 people on a Sunday, and 38.8 doses per 1000 on a Wednesday.

There had also been an increase in the availability and use of methamphetamine

across the state, the study found; purity rose from about 20% in 2010-11 to more than 75% in 2012-13.

“There is little doubt that this is related to trends in the extremely profitable Victorian illicit drugs market, and judging by many respondents’ observations, a form of normalisation of crystal methamphetamine use,” the report found.

“While heroin tends to be scarce outside of Melbourne or large regional centres (such as Geelong), this is certainly not the case with methamphetamine.”

The institute’s acting chief executive officer, Wendy Dodd, described the report tabled to Victorian parliament as “extensive”.

“It has examined the issue from a community grassroots level all the way up to a parliamentary level, and we are really happy with the community engagement, harm reduction, medical and law enforcement communities coming together in such a way,” she said.

Professor Dan Lubman, the director of the Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre at Monash University, said ice use was a national issue.

“But one of the reasons Victoria is particularly concerned is because there has been a huge increase in ice-related emergency-room presentations and harms,” he said.

“If you look at the states and territories there are ice-related issues, but Victoria was traditionally not as affected. But in the last few years harms have started increasing in that state.”

One of the big differences between ice and other drugs was that ice had the biggest impact on dopamine, strongly associated with the reward system in the brain, he said.

“So it creates a big high and has increasing addictive potential with each use.

“Research has shown you only need to use ice five or six times before developing problems with it, which is why I think it is particularly dangerous.

“People can move from experimenting with it to being addicted very quickly.

“As ice use increased so did levels of psychosis and the likelihood of becoming aggressive or violent.”

It made people suffering the symptoms of the drug difficult for frontline staff, such as paramedics, police and doctors, to treat.

“There is a tendency to be quite pessimistic about treatment and what it can do for people,” Lubman said.

“People come to treatment late because they don’t believe they can get help and they also feel highly stigmatised.

“My message is treatment does work and people need to get into it as soon as possible, and it’s good to see that is part of what the government is already doing in Victoria.”

Also on Wednesday the Victorian premier, Denis Napthine, announced police would get 11 new drug detection sniffer dogs to help them crack down on ice use in regional and metropolitan areas.

Cont -

http://www.theguardian.com/society/...te-overall-methamphetamine-use-staying-stable

 

[poledriver]

^ With some user comments.

 

[S.J.B.]

Uh, I think they accidentally put the crack photo in the meth story. 8)

 

[poledriver]

Looks like alamy fucked up -

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photos/AEF7J8/Methamphetamine-on-blue-background.html

 

[S.J.B.]

Looks like alamy fucked up -

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photos/AEF7J8/Methamphetamine-on-blue-background.html

Damn, poor suckers... they paid $15 for the wrong drug.

 

[Crankinit]

Uh, I think they accidentally put the crack photo in the meth story. 8)

Nah, there's a form of meth in some parts of the country people call ''smokeable speed'' which looks just like that, chunky white/yellowish rocks. I think most of it is racemic instead of d-meth, but I don't have enough experience with that specific variety of meth to be sure of that.

 

[poledriver]

Ok, does look alot like crack tho too -

 

[spacejunk]

Yeah I thought it was crack.
Morons.

 

[ro4eva]

I wouldn't have fingered methamphetamine as the drug most likely to make people fall off of things. Alcohol tends to be better at that...

Alcohol is much better at that.

Very rarely did I ever go to a nightclub and not see a fight break out simply because someone bumped into someone else by accident and they were both drunk. If they were both high on meth, they'd probably go fuck instead (or not).

There's an astonishing ignorance and arrogance that has penetrated all facets of our society with respect to drug use, and it goes something like this:

- Alcohol doesn't make you high, but rather drunk, and even though it kills a countless amount of people each day, it's okay, shit happens.

- On the other hand, methamphetamine makes you high, makes you psychotic, gets you addicted the first time you use it, is a scourge, is the sole cause of "meth mouth," and for the 4th decade in a row must be eradicated - hoorah!

Idiots.

 

[spacejunk]

Alcohol is much better at that.

Very rarely did I ever go to a nightclub and not see a fight break out simply because someone bumped into someone else by accident and they were both drunk. If they were both high on meth, they'd probably go fuck instead (or not).

IME they'd probably talk about it for 2 and a half hours, discussing every similar incident that has ever happened to them and anyone they know - who, by the way, they think the other person would really get along with and you'll have to introduce them to one another sometime.

 

[poledriver]

And two people on real good and strong E's bumping into each other and they would have hugged and told them they loved them and become good mates.

 

[poledriver]

Why crime figures don’t add up on ice epidemic

THE release of the NSW Crime Statistics last week showing unprecedented drops in major crime categories temporarily took the current ICAC hearings off the front pages and for that we should all be grateful.

Under Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, the NSW Police have achieved outstanding results in either stabilising or reducing serious crimes, and he and his officers should be applauded.

One report I read stated that the crime statistics were the best in 25 years, which probably should teach us a few lessons — such as how did it all go so wrong in the first place?

But it is not all good news.

Rural areas in certain parts of the state are reporting record increases in petty crime and the anecdotal evidence of drug abuse among youth in our country towns is frightening.

What you won’t see on the crime stats is “real time” drug abuse, which is the actual amount of illegal drugs consumed every day across the state.

Drug crime is a self-generating statistic, meaning a drug crime becomes a statistic only if an offender is arrested and charged with an offence.

If the police mount operations on drug offences, the statistics increase substantially. If they do little, the statistics remain either stable or they decline and that alone can give a false representation of the true state of illegal drug supply and, more importantly, the power and wealth of organised crime.

The crime statistics in relation to NSW’s consumption of mind-altering substances is largely stable except for a 16 per cent increase in methamphetamine usage.

Surely this can’t be an accurate reflection of illegal drug usage in our society.

Andrew Scipione warned recently of an “ice epidemic” that is sweeping the nation. He is absolutely correct, though predictably one academic questioned the use of the word “epidemic”, calling it an “overstatement” and suggesting we might need a “bit of a plan to tackle the problem” but only if it is based on “evidence” and not “hysteria”.

Well, how about this for some “evidence”: according to James Pitts from Odyssey House, a well-known Sydney drug rehabilitation facility, 40 per cent of its clients seek treatment for amphetamine-based drugs.

Even more alarming are the results of drug tests that were out carried out on sewerage waste in Adelaide between 2013 and 2014. They reveal an astonishing 55 per cent increase in detection of methamphetamines in the past 12 months.

Similar sewerage tests in Melbourne show methamphetamine use is increasing at an unprecedented rate.

The Australian Crime Commission reported seizures of methamphetamine increased 300 per cent in just one year alone.

If that’s not an epidemic, I don’t know what is.

But the crime statistics in NSW remain stable as far as methamphetamine supply and manufacture — something that does not add up to this looming national crisis.

The only way to explain this anomaly is simply that police resources are not matching the problem and unless more police are allocated to drug detection, the figures each year will remain, well … stable.

Illegal drug use accounts for a significant percentage of crime committed in our society, from fraud to serious assaults and even murder.

Cont -

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...-on-ice-epidemic/story-fni0cwl5-1227055686068

 

[S.J.B.]

^ Wow, there's some confirmation bias for you.