NEWS: Plan to combat ice drug scourge

The Age - Plan to combat ice drug scourge said:

October 19, 2006 - 5:02PM

NSW Premier Morris Iemma has asked Prime Minister John Howard to help draw up an urgent national action plan to tackle the growing scourge of the drug ice.

Mr Iemma today said he had written to Mr Howard and all state and territory leaders to hold a national forum on "this ice plague" before the end of the year.

He said the leaders could use the forum to draw up an action plan to work out ways to rehabilitate ice addicts and reduce crime and family breakdowns associated with the drug.

"While there are no easy answers, we are determined that law enforcement and health officials will work together as will state, territory and federal jurisdictions," Mr Iemma told parliament.

"It is appropriate that we take strong action to minimise the damage caused by the use of this drug and its supply.

"It is a dirty, filthy, pervasive chemical cocktail and Australia needs more prevention, more enforcement and more treatment options.

"We want to know our kids are protected from this drug, that young people who fall prey to its evil effects can be rescued in time and that the vermin who pedal this menace on our streets are crushed with the full and overwhelming force of the law."

Mr Iemma said he hoped the national leadership forum on ice could be held before the Ministerial Drugs Strategy meeting in Sydney in December.

He said the forum should examine how ice is imported to Australia, transported across the country, the equipment involved in manufacturing the drug and how foreign police tackle the problem in other countries.

The forum would also consider the best ways to prevent the illegal manufacture of ice, increasing penalties for ice dealers and users, and the broader health and social implications linked to the drug.

The highly addictive drug is known to cause violent psychotic episodes among some users, putting themselves, police and healthcare workers at risk.

Mr Iemma told parliament a recent survey of 3,000 emergency department records in NSW hospitals showed 56 per cent of ice users were addicted to the drug and 45 per cent had committed a crime in the past month.

Ice users were also 11 times more likely to suffer a psychotic episode.

The premier also outlined the case of an unnamed ice addict's troubling addition to the drug.

He told of how within three months of inheriting a six-figure sum, "J" had blown it all on his $3,500-a-day ice habit and lost his job, family and friends in the process.

"J" also had developed serious health problems and suffered from chronic depression.

"This drug and its growing prevalence in Australia puts a user on a direct pathway to crime and violence, social disfunction and serious health problems," Mr Iemma said.

His call for a national action plan on ice comes after a new report released today showed the drug can cause violent behaviour in users, but is not behind a dramatic rise in assaults in NSW.

The report was compiled in response to speculation among police and frontline health professionals that the increasing popularity of ice had resulted in a corresponding increase in violent behaviour.

The report, by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR) and the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), says the number of people arrested in NSW for methamphetamine offences rose by 253 per cent between 1995 and 2005.

Over the same 10-year period, the general assault rate in the state jumped from 522 assaults per 100,000 people, to 942 per 100,000.

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dls said:

All I have to say about that is $3,500 a day? That is ridiculous on so many levels...

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he highly addictive drug is known to cause violent psychotic episodes among some users, putting themselves, police and healthcare workers at risk.

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45 per cent had committed a crime in the past month.

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Over the same 10-year period, the general assault rate in the state jumped from 522 assaults per 100,000 people, to 942 per 100,000.

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45 per cent had committed a crime in the past month.

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Jimity said:

100% acutally. Last I checked, buying, smoking or posessing crystal meth was a crime...

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