poledriver
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Ice epidemic could bring nation to its knees, warns NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione
THE ice epidemic could bring Australia to its knees and police will be powerless to prevent it unless the whole community joins the fight, NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has warned.
The comments follow a doubling of ice use in recent years and a series of court findings in the past two weeks in which the drug has featured in bizarre or grisly deaths.
An Australian Crime Commission report released last week also found use was increasing, prompting a federal parliamentary inquiry.
In a stark call to arms, Mr Scipione said police could not tackle the “monster” of Australia’s crystal meth problem on their own and there needed to be a whole-of-community focus on it, beginning with parents.
“If we don’t adequately address this problem, it’s not an overstatement to say that it could bring us to our knees as a nation,” he writes exclusively in today’s Daily Telegraph.
“This monster could steal everything we as Australians cherish so very much and it could be taken from right under our noses.”
Mr Scipione said crystal meth presented a unique threat to police and the public. Not only is it highly addictive but its lethal cocktail of symptoms made users especially dangerous.
“The effects of the methamphetamine sets off a dangerous combination of euphoria, confidence, energy and strength, coupled with anxiety, paranoia and severe panic attacks,” he said.
“The end result is that users, including slightly built men and women, can become incredibly formidable for even the biggest and most experienced of my officers to deal with.
“Uncontrollable, unpredictable and extremely violent methamphetamine users who are feeling suspicious of other people and are feeling people are ‘out to get them’, are not just a risk to police but they are a risk to the broad community.”
Yesterday an Illawarra ice addict was sentenced to a minimum 15 years jail for murdering his drug dealer and stuffing her body in a car boot at Wollongong.
Last week a coronial inquest into the death of a user who was tearing up and down the M1, driving head on into other motorists and through a construction site, heard ice users exhibiting “superhuman strength and aggression” would be a “growth area” for authorities.
A court in Victoria last week found an ice addict guilty of murder after he tortured, killed and dismembered a man in Gippsland.
And a week earlier an ice addict was sentenced to 40 years after a frenzied stabbing murder in the middle of his former workplace at St Marys.
St Vincent’s Hospital head of emergency Gordian Fulde has detailed the escalation of the problem in his Telegraph column and has described ice as “the most evil drug we have at the moment”. He told Four Corners: “These are the most out-of-control, the most violent human beings I have seen in my life.”
St Vincent’s clinical director of alcohol and drug services Nadine Ezard said it was vital to get more treatment services, a point echoed by Mr Scipione.
“The earlier people seek treatment the better the outcomes and we need more services available so we can offer treatment to more people,” she told the Telegraph last night.
“St Vincent’s hospital runs one of the two specialist treatment programs on the state and our waiting list is growing every day.”
Dr Ezard also said society needed to “avoid a kind of ‘moral panic’ about ice” so as to encourage people to seek treatment.
The Australian Drug Foundation said that while the use of amphetamines has remained steady at 2 per cent of the population, the proportion using ice, the highly potent and addictive crystal form, has skyrocketed.
According to last year’s National Drug Strategy Survey, the use of ice has more than doubled from 2010 to 2013, from 22 per cent to 50 per cent of speed users. The frequency has also doubled, with 25 per cent of ice users taking it daily or weekly in 2013 compared to 12.4 per cent in 2010.
“Ice has now replaced the once popular powder form of amphetamine — speed — because it is more readily available and offers a very intense high — hence the increase in aggressive and violent behaviour,” ADF CEO John Rogerson told the Telegraph.
“The impact of this drug upon families, friends and local services is very significant and a major concern.”
While the ADF is reluctant to describe ice as an “epidemic”, Mr Scipione made no bones about it.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ic...-andrew-scipione/story-e6freuy9-1227285222295
With a video.
THE ice epidemic could bring Australia to its knees and police will be powerless to prevent it unless the whole community joins the fight, NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has warned.
The comments follow a doubling of ice use in recent years and a series of court findings in the past two weeks in which the drug has featured in bizarre or grisly deaths.
An Australian Crime Commission report released last week also found use was increasing, prompting a federal parliamentary inquiry.
In a stark call to arms, Mr Scipione said police could not tackle the “monster” of Australia’s crystal meth problem on their own and there needed to be a whole-of-community focus on it, beginning with parents.
“If we don’t adequately address this problem, it’s not an overstatement to say that it could bring us to our knees as a nation,” he writes exclusively in today’s Daily Telegraph.
“This monster could steal everything we as Australians cherish so very much and it could be taken from right under our noses.”
Mr Scipione said crystal meth presented a unique threat to police and the public. Not only is it highly addictive but its lethal cocktail of symptoms made users especially dangerous.
“The effects of the methamphetamine sets off a dangerous combination of euphoria, confidence, energy and strength, coupled with anxiety, paranoia and severe panic attacks,” he said.
“The end result is that users, including slightly built men and women, can become incredibly formidable for even the biggest and most experienced of my officers to deal with.
“Uncontrollable, unpredictable and extremely violent methamphetamine users who are feeling suspicious of other people and are feeling people are ‘out to get them’, are not just a risk to police but they are a risk to the broad community.”
Yesterday an Illawarra ice addict was sentenced to a minimum 15 years jail for murdering his drug dealer and stuffing her body in a car boot at Wollongong.
Last week a coronial inquest into the death of a user who was tearing up and down the M1, driving head on into other motorists and through a construction site, heard ice users exhibiting “superhuman strength and aggression” would be a “growth area” for authorities.
A court in Victoria last week found an ice addict guilty of murder after he tortured, killed and dismembered a man in Gippsland.
And a week earlier an ice addict was sentenced to 40 years after a frenzied stabbing murder in the middle of his former workplace at St Marys.
St Vincent’s Hospital head of emergency Gordian Fulde has detailed the escalation of the problem in his Telegraph column and has described ice as “the most evil drug we have at the moment”. He told Four Corners: “These are the most out-of-control, the most violent human beings I have seen in my life.”
St Vincent’s clinical director of alcohol and drug services Nadine Ezard said it was vital to get more treatment services, a point echoed by Mr Scipione.
“The earlier people seek treatment the better the outcomes and we need more services available so we can offer treatment to more people,” she told the Telegraph last night.
“St Vincent’s hospital runs one of the two specialist treatment programs on the state and our waiting list is growing every day.”
Dr Ezard also said society needed to “avoid a kind of ‘moral panic’ about ice” so as to encourage people to seek treatment.
The Australian Drug Foundation said that while the use of amphetamines has remained steady at 2 per cent of the population, the proportion using ice, the highly potent and addictive crystal form, has skyrocketed.
According to last year’s National Drug Strategy Survey, the use of ice has more than doubled from 2010 to 2013, from 22 per cent to 50 per cent of speed users. The frequency has also doubled, with 25 per cent of ice users taking it daily or weekly in 2013 compared to 12.4 per cent in 2010.
“Ice has now replaced the once popular powder form of amphetamine — speed — because it is more readily available and offers a very intense high — hence the increase in aggressive and violent behaviour,” ADF CEO John Rogerson told the Telegraph.
“The impact of this drug upon families, friends and local services is very significant and a major concern.”
While the ADF is reluctant to describe ice as an “epidemic”, Mr Scipione made no bones about it.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ic...-andrew-scipione/story-e6freuy9-1227285222295
With a video.
