Australian Ice Thread

[mister]

Short Vice video on booze verses meth....

We Spent a Night with Paramedics to Find Out if Australia Is Really Facing a Meth Epidemic

http://www.vice.com/en_au/video/we-spent-a-night-with-paramedics-to-find-out-if-australia-is-really-facing-a-meth-epidemic-r

 

[poledriver]

^ Taken from the link posted above by mister -

We Spent a Night with Paramedics to Find Out if Australia Is Really Facing a Meth Epidemic

Paramedics get front-row seats to the way a city gets wasted. When someone passes out, gets knocked unconscious, falls, freaks out, or gets found, mobile medics are usually the first on the scene. This is why, when we wanted to know what Australia's much-written-about ice (crystalline methamphetamine) epidemic looked like, we contacted Ambulance Victoria.

Australia is now eight months into an official war on ice. In April former Prime Minister Tony Abbott ordered a task-force to find ways of tackling the use of the drug. On Monday, Prime Minister Turnbull announced $300 million to enact the plan, making assurances that health service providers would see the bulk of this cash.

In the months leading up to this announcement we'd spent four Saturday nights trawling Melbourne with two separate ambulance crews. With the funding boost coming in, it's likely crews like these will be seeing their slice of it. And while they surely need it, maybe it's not for the reasons you'd assume.

The first incident we were called out to involved a young guy who'd fallen off a balcony. He'd been drinking gin and we found him splayed over a bottom floor, unable to sit up. He was smiling and bubbly, but his words made no sense and his head looked worryingly asymmetrical. This was almost standard, explained Greg Gibson, the group manager with Ambulance Victoria. Every weekend they clean up after a culture that drinks to get drunk. According to him, the fallout from other drugs pales in comparison.

The most cited stats on the cost of drugs and alcohol are from 2004-05. That year it was estimated illicit drug use costed Australia $8.2 billion [$6 billion USD], while alcohol was nearly double at $15.3 billion [$11 billion USD]. A revised estimate by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Educationhas since priced drinking higher again at $36 billion [$26 billion USD].

These are only estimates, but they seemed pretty well-reflected during my ambulance tour of Melbourne. We saw booze-powered fights, accidents, domestics, and a whole lot of vomit. Only once we got called to an ice incident. An older guy in a halfway house claimed he was having an overdose but when we got there he was just kind of confused. It was an ugly scene, but compared to a young guy who'd been drunkenly sucker-punched and face-planted on a fire hydrant, it was pretty innocuous.

We're not the first to raise these concerns. Experts have been comparing the damage waged by drinking to the effects made by ice for years. The first issue is that ice use doesn't even seem as prevalent as the word epidemic might suggest.

Australia's main way of measuring drug use is the National Drug Strategy Household Survey. It tells us that rates of ice use have plateaued since 2010. At that point seven percent of people admitted they'd tried ice at least once. In 2013 that number was unchanged.

While usage might be stable, the public don't seem to know this. The University of NSW recently surveyed 11,000 people to find just under half thought between 30 and 100 percent of Australians had tried ice. As mentioned before, that true figure is seven percent—a notable difference.

So what's fanning the notion we're in the grips of an ice epidemic? According to experts it may be a feedback cycle, perpetrated by media coverage and endorsed by increased arrests. Associate Professor John Fitzgerald, sociologist and drug expert at the University of Melbourne, told the ABC that drugs arrests have risen dramatically, which would seem to suggest there's more drugs around.

"In the space of two years [2011-2013] we doubled the amount of amphetamine users we were arresting. That's insane because we didn't see a proportional change in how many dealers we were arresting. There was a targeting of drug users," he explained.

Of course this is a simplification. There are numerous reasons why the Australian public is so fixated on ice. But again the paramedics we told us for all the excitement around illicit drugs, ice just wasn't their man concern.

Spending four nights in an ambulance was never a way to quantifiably prove the existence of an ice epidemic. In any case, it didn't. But it did illustrate the extent to which society suffers via alcohol. The issue is that we're throwing $300 million [$219 million USD] at ice, while comparatively ignoring the other.

https://www.vice.com/en_au/video/we...-australia-is-really-facing-a-meth-epidemic-r

 

[methyldreams]

so Mrs polediver have you ever even tried this drug that is used by many very responsibily?

Yet all I see is you trying to re-inforce what the media is already doing.

Yeah it doe's fuck up lives, but theres many like me with a love for this drug who can use for a week non stop no sleep and be normal except have a boogey in your nose that you can never seem to pick lol

 

[S.J.B.]

so Mrs polediver have you ever even tried this drug that is used by many very responsibily?

Yet all I see is you trying to re-inforce what the media is already doing.

Yeah it doe's fuck up lives, but theres many like me with a love for this drug who can use for a week non stop no sleep and be normal except have a boogey in your nose that you can never seem to pick lol

This is Drugs in the Media. We aren't posting these stories because we agree with them.

 

[poledriver]

Hong Kong nationals plead guilty over 'largest ice bust in WA history'

Two Hong Kong nationals have pleaded guilty over charges arising from what was described at the time as the largest ice seizure in Western Australia's history.

Jian Tat Ng and Chin Yeung Ng were among four men arrested in September this year, after police found 320 kilograms of the drug and about $1.4 million in cash at a house in Canning Vale and at a city apartment and hotel room.

The two men pleaded guilty, through a Cantonese interpreter, to charges of possessing a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply.

The charges relate to about five kilograms of ice which were found in the city premises.

One of the men also admitted possessing unlawfully obtained property.

Both were remanded in custody until they appear in the District Court in February.

Two other men, Pak Cheong Cheung and Yik To Ng, have been charged over the drugs which are alleged to have been found at the Canning Vale house.

They also appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court today and were remanded in custody until their next court appearance, also in February next year.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-17/hong-kong-nationals-largest-wa-history-ice-guilty-plea/7037642

 

[methyldreams]

This is Drugs in the Media. We aren't posting these stories because we agree with them.

Why you posting them? more deaths and family violence become of alcohole why not post them, Yeah Australia is in a ice age that's only because it's to expensive for the major criminal groups to bring over the quality MDMA and since a lot of the organised crime groups these days are only worried about $$$$ not social fabric... What's your point???? Document how many people's life's are fucked up over prescription medication and the downfall of humanity due to capatilism we should be looking into mystyism and sacred rituals that societys have taken for thousands of years

 

[poledriver]

Adelaide woman charged over $4m drug haul will argue no case to answer, court hears

An Adelaide woman charged in connection with an ice and cocaine haul worth about $4 million will argue in court that she has no case to answer.

Cathy Paspaliaris, 55, and her brother Nick Totsikas, 44, faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court again today.

Both have been charged with trafficking in a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug in August this year.

Police allegedly found 3.3 kilograms of ice and 1.1 kilograms of cocaine during searches of houses in North Plympton and Parkside.

Officers said more than $65,000 in cash was also seized.

The court today heard that Paspaliaris would argue she had no case to answer and that the issue would be possession.

Her lawyer provided no further details on the potential defence.

The issue has been listed for "no case argument" in February.

Totsikas is due to answer his charges on the same date.

Along with two counts of trafficking in a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug, Totsikas is also facing a further two counts each of trafficking methamphetamine in a controlled drug and unlawful possession.

Paspaliaris is charged with two counts of trafficking in a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug.

The siblings remain on bail.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-...er-drug-bust-argues-no-case-to-answer/7037718

 

[poledriver]

Ice use doubled in Melbourne suburbs in past year, survey finds

A scientific analysis of wastewater has revealed a jump in the use of the drug ice in parts of Melbourne in the past 12 months.

Researchers from Melbourne's Turning Point Drug and Alcohol Centre and the University of Queensland found that use of the drug had doubled in the city's south-eastern and eastern suburbs compared to the previous year.

It also found a 50 per cent jump in the use of the drug in Melbourne's central, northern and western suburbs.

Dr Belinda Lloyd, the head of research at Turning Point, said samples were taken as the water entered the treatment plant and tests were conducted to identify actual traces of the drug and byproducts from metabolised drugs.

"It gives us us an objective measure of drug consumption at a population level," she said.

"We have comparison data so we can understand how patterns are changing and where there may be points where we look at evidence-based treatments."

She said the research also allowed them to track population trends and different patterns of use between the weekdays and the weekend.

Martin Foley, the Victorian Mental Health Minister, said the results confirmed what the Government already knew and would be used to help direct funding from the Government's $45 million ice package.

"Sadly we weren't surprised but we were very disappointed because what this continues to show is that the scourge of ice grows right across Melbourne," he said.

"What it has been useful for, is to allow us further evidence as to where to target out efforts to make sure we get on top of this problem.

"This is not a problem we can arrest our way out of. This is a problem we can build community support to assist addicts and their families."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-...led-in-melbourne-suburbs-in-past-year/7043108

 

[poledriver]

Gang life ended in massive Perth ice bust

They called themselves The Company and their business was to flood Australia with deadly, high-purity meth.

Using phones bought in newsagencies and nondescript houses rented east of Perth, the Taiwanese gang was sitting on enormous amounts of the white crystals that can wreak havoc.

There was 85kg, worth about $45 million, bundled up in three multicoloured bags in the wardrobe of a Queens Park house. Another 5kg was hidden in noodle packets and tissue boxes in a flat in Cloverdale.

In Melbourne, their cohorts had an even bigger drug stash from the same Asian source.

Men with names such as Ling, Chen, Yang and Tao did not know each other well but kept in touch using codenames in texts and messages through Wii Chat, Facebook and LINE.

What they did not know was they were being watched.

The Australian Crime Commission and Federal and State police had followed their trail from Taiwan to Australia via Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

And they recorded every move in what would be one of Australia’s biggest drug busts.

The gang arrived in Melbourne in May last year with passports issued on the same day and on tickets booked on the same date with the same agent.

For two months, CCTV recorded them and four suitcases, two black and two red, which police opened on July 29 to find 116.4kg of meth in 117 packages worth more than $100 million.

Days earlier, Yen-Han Tao, 25, the son of a Taipei steelworker, arrived in WA on a tourist visa.

Born with a heart defect and having struggled in school, Tao became the sole breadwinner for his family in his teens after his father’s foot was crippled.

Buried under healthcare debt, Tao also owed dealers fuelling his ketamine habit who bashed him when he could not pay and then offered him a way out.

After renting an empty house in Yallambee Way, Queens Park, Tao was joined by two other young Taiwanese men on tourist visas. But apart from a few train trips to Crown Casino and Northbridge, they did very little sightseeing or shopping.

The house had no fridge, no freezer, no washing machine. Not even a TV. But there were scales, a laptop and mobile phones. And it was never empty.

On October 9, officers raided it and a similar sparsely furnished home in Gild Street, Cloverdale. The result was what was then WA’s biggest methamphetamine seizure.

When questioned, Tao said an English-speaking man named “Darmo” set him up in the house and he had been visiting tourist spots such as the Pinnacles since arriving.

But instead of sunsets and selfies, his phone held messages between employees of The Company that referred to him as “Little Black”. In WA’s Supreme Court this week, Federal prosecutor Sarah Oliver said Tao played a crucial role in the Perth arm of the gang, which recruited men of similar backgrounds to do similar jobs — guarding and hiding meth for trafficking.

Justice Lindy Jenkins, in jailing Tao for 12 years, said the vast amount of drugs involved, about 850,000 street deals, would have devastated lives across the city.

“I can safely say that the use of such an amount of drugs would have resulted directly or indirectly in death, violence, the destruction of many productive lives and the fracturing of social and family relations,” she said.

Three men caught with 5kg of ice in Cloverdale were sentenced to between four and 61/2 years and two men in Melbourne were given 12 years.

But the ringleaders, named in court as Sho Teng Cheng, Meng Suang Kuo and Le Lam Cheng, managed to leave Australia without being arrested.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/30403046/gang-life-ended-in-massive-perth-ice-bust/

 

[poledriver]

Queensland real estate agent avoids prison over ice supply

A Bayside real estate agent could lose his license after being convicted of supplying the drug ice.

Patrick Ryan McCann was handed an 18-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to 24 ice supplying offences.

An earlier charge of trafficking was withdrawn.

The 37-year-old was caught after a covert police operation last year involving phone intercepts and surveillance revealed he supplied the drug to five friends over a two year period.

After his arrest, Mr McCann spent time in a rehabilitation facility on the Gold Coast.

In sentencing, Justice Kerry O'Brien took into account Mr McCann's high profile job and that the charges would cause him to lose business.

He still holds a real estate licence, however his conviction could see his licence cancelled and career over.

A decision on his future will be left up to the Real Estate Agents Board.


Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/national/20...ds-prison-over-ice-supply#sUWBmO2P5KiGEQv3.99

 

[poledriver]

Ice now an 'indispensable feature' of violent crime: judge

Methamphetamine or "ice" has become an "almost indispensable feature" of ultra-violent crime in Victoria according to a senior judge, who questioned whether governments were doing enough to stop the carnage.

The message from outspoken Supreme Court Judge Lex Lasry came on the same day Victorian crime figures revealed the number of people caught using or possessing ice was for the first time rivalling those caught with cannabis.

In handing down a sentence for a former stripper and her two accomplices, who killed the woman's ex-partner amid a background of excessive use of the drug ice, Justice Lasry said he and his colleagues had watched "for years" as use of the drug had driven violent offending.

"For years my judicial colleagues and I have watched as this problem has developed to become an almost indispensable feature to some extraordinarily violent criminal behaviour," he said.

"This case is but one more example. I wonder how strong the will of executive government really is in this area to inhibit and reduce the trade and consumption of this terrible drug."

Crime Statistics Agency figures released on Thursday show that drug offences increased almost 17 per cent in the past year, and that most of the increase was due to amphetamine, including ice, offences.

Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp (regional operations) said the Latrobe region, which takes in the Latrobe Valley and had the second highest offence rate of any local government area in Victoria, had a 17.4 per cent increase in crime that was significantly influenced by "dob in a dealer" programs, targeting ice.

In August, the Australian Institute of Criminology reported 37 per cent of adult detainees in police custody had tested positive to amphetamines – a 13 per cent jump since 2011–12.

Justice Lasry's comments follow a string of high-profile cases involving the use of the drug.

A woman found guilty of killing her ex-lover's wife and grandson with garden shears started using ice after she began to suspect the man wouldn't marry her, but the court was told ice played no role in the killings.

A man at the centre of Monday's seige in Seaford, who is suspected of stabbing one man to death and stabbing a woman in the leg, demanded the drug during his stand-off with police.

And on Thursday, a 21-year-old man who had taken ice, amphetamines, MDMA and GHB before crashing his car into a Geelong home and leaving a five-month-old baby with life-threatening injures, was sentenced to 23 months jail.

Premier Daniel Andrew's ice taskforce, promised during the 2014 election campaign, was given 100 days to develop an action plan to halt the carnage caused by use of the drug.

That action plan, released in March, included measures to support families struggling to help a loved one suffering ice addiction, to bolster drug rehabilitation services and money for new drug and booze buses.

But the government has delayed other measures because of the national task force, unveiled by former prime minister Tony Abbott in April.

It is understood these delays related to measures that would require significant funding, such as an expansion of the highly successful drug court model championed in Dandenong.

The national task force, headed by former Victoria Police chief commissioner Ken Lay, reported to the government in October and the federal government announced its response last Sunday, vowing to spend almost $300 million over four years particularly in drug treatment, mental health services and preventative measures.

Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash, who has responsibility for drug policy, told Fairfax "we can't police our way out of this".

"In order to break the drug dealer's business model, we have to smash demand," she said.

"Our response to ice has to evolve with the times and the way to break the ice dealer's model is to cripple demand. As the taskforce says, the dealers are easily replaceable and the ice rings are international, well-resourced, and incredibly agile."


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/i...rime-judge-20151217-glq0r5.html#ixzz3unI15RP3

 

[poledriver]

A father's desperate plea: Send my son to rehab or he could kill this Christmas

They are the words of a broken father who fears his ice-addicted teenage son is about to either kill – or be killed – this Christmas.

After witnessing his 15-year-old boy David* walk free from court and then breach bail for the 17th time last week, Adam Jacobs* wrote to detectives, warning the move may end up haunting authorities.

His desperate letter conveys despair that another "perfect opportunity" has been wasted to divert his son to a Sydney-based residential treatment centre.

It also expresses concern that the legal system has just returned a violent young menace back on to the streets of Melbourne over the festive season.

"I fear over the Christmas break David will get himself or someone else hurt because there is no consequence's [sic] from police or Judges," Mr Jacobs said.

A fortnight ago, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced a $300 million package to tackle the ice epidemic and drug addiction, with the bulk of the money to be spent on treatment and prevention.

The news was celebrated by Mr Jacobs, from Melbourne, who, one week earlier, was advised by a health expert that, if his son wanted professional residential treatment, he would be better off committing a crime in NSW – where a judge could at least have options at hand.

David was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of seven. His father says anger, aggression and behavioural issues have been part and parcel of his life since.

When he fell in with a bad crowd, drug use escalated and he stopped coming home. In the past 12 months he has become a danger to others.

In turn, his distraught family say they have been left "stunned" by a system that has "frozen" them out and handed a vulnerable and violent young child "complete control" over his own life.

David is facing charges as an accessory to both car theft and the serious assault of a man, in his 50s, who was left in a coma after he was beaten up and suffered a fractured skull.

With no mandatory detox program or treatment service available for young people in Victoria, Mr Jacobs had hoped last week that the court would help him funnel his son interstate to the Ted Noffs Program for Adolescent Life Management in Sydney, which offers a three-month therapy program.

Instead, he wandered out of court on Wednesday and immediately breached bail by failing to return home.

His family say they now fear what will unfold during the four-week "hole", between now and January 20, when he next faces court.

"We are crying out for help for our son," Mr Jacobs told Fairfax Media.

"He is not in sound mind to make decisions for himself. He is a 15 -year-old alcohol and drug affected boy that is not safe in our community. Does he have to kill himself or kill someone else before we get recognised?"

The father's letter to detectives

Hello Tom, hello Rob [detectives],

David's case was adjourned today.

My question to both of you, David has broken his bail 17 times now

I have put forward our ideas for diversion rehab eg Noffs foundation, instead of Jail community service or ropes program.

David left court today with the thugs he has been friends with, he waited until XXXX had his court case, and I assume he is with him now 11.30pm

He has not gone back to the unit and he has broken his bail again.

I fear over the Christmas break David will get himself or someone else hurt because there is no consequence's from police or Judges.

If the system wanted to help David, today would have been a perfect opportunity to get him put into rehab for three months to stop his pattern of behaviour

I am concerned for his well-being and others over the next four weeks, until court 20/1/16

I have copied ... Fairfax Media into this email, so if David or someone else is hurt, bashing, car accident, overdose, etc it is recorded all the work we have done to try and help our son

We have begged for help.

Jail is not the answer, rehab to break his behaviour patterns is what he needs.

What needs to happen before something will be done to help our kids before they become stuck in the criminal system.

*Not their real names

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/a-fa...-christmas-20151217-glq67l.html#ixzz3upwBpZ5K

 

[consumer]

Why you posting them? more deaths and family violence become of alcohole why not post them, Yeah Australia is in a ice age that's only because it's to expensive for the major criminal groups to bring over the quality MDMA and since a lot of the organised crime groups these days are only worried about $$$$ not social fabric... What's your point???? Document how many people's life's are fucked up over prescription medication and the downfall of humanity due to capatilism we should be looking into mystyism and sacred rituals that societys have taken for thousands of years

This is Drugs in the Media. Its where news articles on drugs are posted. What part of that dont you understand? I think the meth is messing with your powers of comprehension. Poledriver does a fantastic job of collating these reports and posting them here. He should be congratulated not criticized.

 

[mister]

so Mrs polediver have you ever even tried this drug that is used by many very responsibily?

Yet all I see is you trying to re-inforce what the media is already doing.

Yeah it doe's fuck up lives, but theres many like me with a love for this drug who can use for a week non stop no sleep and be normal except have a boogey in your nose that you can never seem to pick lol

Idiot alert

 

[S.J.B.]

Why you posting them? more deaths and family violence become of alcohole why not post them, Yeah Australia is in a ice age that's only because it's to expensive for the major criminal groups to bring over the quality MDMA and since a lot of the organised crime groups these days are only worried about $$$$ not social fabric... What's your point???? Document how many people's life's are fucked up over prescription medication and the downfall of humanity due to capatilism we should be looking into mystyism and sacred rituals that societys have taken for thousands of years

As illicit-drug users, it is important to know what is being said about these drugs in the media in order to, among other things, predict what sorts of policies are likely to come in the future and to get a gauge of the feasibility of reform efforts.

Men with names such as Ling, Chen, Yang and Tao did not know each other well but kept in touch using codenames in texts and messages through Wii Chat, Facebook and LINE.

I just burst out laughing imagining gangsters communicating through Wii Chat. I assume he meant to say WeChat.

 

[poledriver]

NSW Police Force added 6 new photos.
24 mins ·

Officers from Wagga Wagga Local Area Command have charged three men following the discovery of prohibited drugs in a stairwell at a hotel.
About 1pm (Monday 21 December 2015), police were called to a hotel on Lake Albert Road, after three bags of prohibited drugs, believed to be methamphetamine, were located.
Officers seized the bags and an investigation was commenced.

Detectives attended a hotel room and spoke to a 47-year-old man. On searching the room amphetamine and a glass pipe were seized.
The man was issued a field court attendance notice for possess prohibited drug and possession of equipment to administer.
He will attend Wagga Wagga Local Court next year (Thursday 3 February 2016).

While at the location a car drove into the car park, officers spoke to the driver who was subjected to a Roadside Drug Test (RDT), which indicated a positive result.
The man was arrested and his car was searched. Police allegedly located 3.5g of amphetamine and an electronic control device.

The 34-year-old was taken to Wagga Wagga Police Station, where he underwent a secondary drug test with an alleged positive result.
He was charged with supply prohibited drug, possess prohibited drug, two traffic related offences and was refused bail to appear at Wagga Wagga Local Court today (Tuesday 22 December 2015).
While speaking to the man in the car, officers saw another man leave a hotel room, they stopped and spoke to him.

Police searched the hotel room and seized 85g of amphetamine, with an estimated street value of over $30,000, over 3g of heroin, an electronic control device, knives and counterfeit notes.
The 47-year-old was arrested and taken to Wagga Wagga Police Station, and charged with supply prohibited drug x2, and possess counterfeit money.
He was refused bail to appear at Wagga Wagga Local Court today (Tuesday 22 December 2015).
Inquiries are continuing.

 

[poledriver]

Craigieburn dad attacked by man he claims was high on ice

A MELBOURNE father who was bashed unconscious while trying to protect his family from a man allegedly high on ice could lose the sight in his left eye.

Grant O’Neill, 45, was attacked at the front door of his Craigieburn home at 3am on December 14.
Mr O’Neill and his wife, Lisa, were woken by the sounds of yelling and banging outside and were worried the noise would wake their three children.

Mr O’Neill opened the door and was set upon.
“I was just worried about my family,” Mr O’Neill told 7 News.

“He tried to rip my eye out and just kept kicking me.
“He was on ice and he said that.”
Mr O’Neill was knocked unconscious while the man repeatedly kicked and stomped on him.

Mrs O’Neill said she feared the worst.
“There was just blood, you couldn’t see his face,” she said.
“One, two more blows and he would’ve been gone.”

Doctors are now trying to save Mr O’Neill’s eyesight while he recovers in hospital.
“I had plastic surgery on my lip, I’ve got two fractured cheekbones, he broke my nose,” Mr O’Neill said.

Detectives from the Hume Criminal Investigation Unit arrested and interviewed a 21-year-old man and a 17-year-old male, both from Craigieburn, in relation to the aggravated burglary.
They have both been released without charge.
The O’Neill’s are frustrated the way police have handled the situation.
“It’s a joke, an absolute joke,” Mr O’Neill said.

And some vids -

http://www.news.com.au/national/vic.../news-story/098cdf6824b57d56a85940af2d58ad39?

 

[poledriver]

Woman spiked ex boyfriend's drink causing him to breach bail

A South Australian woman who spiked her ex-boyfriend's drinks with an illicit drug, causing him to breach his bail, has been spared a jail term.

Michelle Marie Edwards, 39, pleaded guilty to two counts of administering a controlled drug to another person.

The offence carries a maximum penalty of a $50,000 fine and or 10 years' jail.

The District Court previously heard Edwards spiked her ex-boyfriend's drinks with methylamphetamine, causing him to test positive for drugs and breach his bail conditions.

Her lawyer, George Mancini, had previously told the court his client was upset and mentally disturbed at the time.

"Her mental state was such that that caused her to spike the drinks of her friend in respect of the matter that's before the court," Mr Mancini said.

"They were in a relationship and she put the drug methylamphetamine into his drinks for various reasons to do with, I suppose her disturbed mental state and her difficulties with herself and the relationship with the victim, which resulted in him being detected in breach of bail."

Mr Mancini told the court his client had made changes to curb her drug habit and was trying to turn her life around.

The case was adjourned for more than a year to allow Edwards to complete a court-run drug treatment program.

In sentencing, Judge Julie McIntyre said it was to Edwards' credit that she persisted with the program.

"You showed commitment to the program and awareness of what was required to successfully complete it," Judge McIntyre said.

"It is greatly to your credit that you completed the program.

"You are now clear of drugs and hopefully will remain so in the future."

Breach of good behaviour bond overlooked

Her offending also breached a previous good behaviour bond for an assault charge.

You've put in a lot of hard work in the last 12 months. If you breach this bond in any way or commit another offence you'll be liable to serve that sentence of imprisonment.
Judge Julie McIntyre

Judge McIntyre said in the circumstances she was prepared to excuse that breach.

She imposed a sentence of 14 months' imprisonment with a non-parole period of seven months, which she suspended.

She placed Edwards on an 18-month good behaviour bond.

"You've put in a lot of hard work in the last 12 months," Judge McIntyre said.

"If you breach this bond in any way or commit another offence you'll be liable to serve that sentence of imprisonment.

"Take advantage of this opportunity because it's likely to be your last. If there is any more drug offending you are likely to go to jail."

Edwards will be under the supervision of a community corrections officer during the period of the bond.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-23/woman-spiked-ex-boyfriends-drink-causing-breach-bail/7050418

 

[poledriver]

Helping addicts is the only way to halt scourge of ice

Ice is a huge problem, and it will take help from the whole community to solve it, writes Fiona Nash.

After returning from the UN Narcotics Conference early this year, I visited a drug and alcohol treatment facility.
I met a charming 30-ish man who cheekily informed me he was a "privileged white male".

From a torn couch in modest accommodation, he spoke of the realities of ice addiction, the euphoria and connection the drug had initially made him feel, and how while high he engaged in risky sexual behaviour which resulted in him contracting HIV.

This year I've met with US White House Drug Policy Adviser Michael Botticelli, many drug and alcohol ministers from other countries, countless health and emergency workers, police, counsellors and visited many rehabilitation facilities. After we announced the National Ice Taskforce in April, I travelled more than 30,000 kilometres holding public ice forums in 13 rural and regional locations.

One grandfather wept in front of a crowd as he told of his grandchildren walking into their mother's bedroom to wake her before school only to find her dead. He shook as he paced the floor, microphone in one hand, his other alternating between wiping sweat from his brow and tears from his eyes.

One addict said the moments of clarity (or "windows") in which she would commit to getting clean would last only a few hours. She would be told there were not beds available and resume using ice. The young woman repeatedly trailed off mid-sentence as the drug had destroyed her focus (though neural pathways will grow back, given time).

A working-class mother in a regional town told me she'd paid tens of thousands to send her son to Thailand because there were no appropriate beds available in her state of Victoria.
I was told of a brother and sister who both suicided after becoming hooked on ice in a rural NSW town.

In one rehabilitation facility, an insightful woman explained how initially the drug helped her have the life she'd only dreamed of by allowing her to be outgoing and entertaining. However her habit required money and she began prostituting herself to get it. Later she said the drug "turned on me" and caused horrific delusions and psychosis. Some of her teeth turned black and rotted.
At same table was a former brand director of one of Australia's most recognised companies. The educated, articulate, formerly wealthy man had taken ice for years before finally becoming hooked (a common story). Then he'd spent his life savings.

A former member of a prominent Sydney business group told me he'd used the drug as a "temporary" anti-tiredness measure when a business partner was unable to work. He stayed awake for weeks, began dealing to support his habit and wound up in jail. It's worth noting, keeping a person in prison for a year costs a taxpayer upwards of $135,000. Residential rehabilitation costs the taxpayer about $50,000 a year.

States are primarily responsible for front line services such as hospitals, ambulances and rehabilitation – the federal health budget funds 160 of Australia's 800-odd treatment facilities.
From Lismore to Geraldton, police said the same thing: "We can't arrest our way out of this."

One forthright rural South Australian copper said: "You can give me billions of dollars, and I'll arrest lots of drug dealers for you. But it won't make a lick of difference to the ice problem."
The National Ice Taskforce found ice is easy to get, the price is unchanged, the purity has tripled (resulting in more addict-based crime) and the dealers are easily replaceable.
So, to break the drug dealer's business model, we must smash demand. That means, among other things, removing the biggest buyers from the market – the addicts – by helping them get off the drug.

With the support of Justice Minister Michael Keenan, we received cabinet approval for $300 million of new money to boost drug treatment, aftercare, education, prevention, support and community engagement, including the biggest federal treatment funding boost ever.
Governments can't reduce ice use alone. We need help from the whole community as we aim to reduce demand for drugs, support police, health, emergency and drug and alcohol workers; give parents and relatives somewhere to take their loved ones, and help those who need it.

Fiona Nash is Minister for Rural Health and Minister responsible for alcohol and drug policy.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/helpi...-to-halt-scourge-of-ice-20151222-gltfe2.html?

 

[poledriver]

NSW Police Force
40 mins ·

Two men have been charged with allegedly supplying methyl-amphetamine (ICE) to customers at a store in Windsor.

In December last year, detectives from Hawkesbury Local Area Command formed Strike Force Jenkinson to investigate the alleged supply of ICE in the Windsor area.

As a result of their inquiries, yesterday (Thursday 7 January 2016), two men – aged 24 and 25 – were arrested at separate locations in Windsor.

It will be alleged both men supplied ICE from a store on George Street, Windsor, with the older man also accused of selling an ICE pipe over the counter.

The 24-year-old man was charged with four counts of supplying a prohibited drug, and one count of doing so on an ongoing basis.

The 25-year-old man was charged with eight counts of supplying a prohibited drug, one count of doing so on an ongoing basis, and supplying an ice pipe.

Both men were refused bail to appear at Penrith Local Court today (Friday 8 January 2016).

NSFW: