poledriver
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
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Deadlier than ever: Welcome to the new ice age
OUT among the new addicts whose young lives are spiralling away in psychosis, at border control checkpoints which increasingly uncover it hidden in bizarre consignments, in the wastelands of public housing where it is the drug of choice.
Methamphetamine is entering a new and deadly age of addiction in Australia.
Drug seizures of amphetamines at Australian borders are at record levels.
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service hauls this year have detected methamphetamines and drug precursors in imports from paint scrapers to bathroom tiles, artificial flower arrangements, a blow-up air bed, steering wheel locks, a fax machine, bolt cutters, cling wrap, a stainless steel trolley, coffee machine and a baby's pram.
Border detections of precursor chemical for amphetamine production are on the increase.
Arrests for clandestine drug laboratories are at record levels.
The number and weight of seizures internally are up more than 50 per cent on last year.
Purity of the drug in some regions is as high as 80 per cent.
Seven years after Australia's last "ice age" turned injecting addicts into hallucination-ridden "zombies" on our streets, the new methamphetamine epidemic gaining a foothold across the nation is younger and deadlier than ever before.
As the Australian Crime Commission identified it to news.com.au as "Australia's highest risk illicit drug market" and the United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime named it as "the top illicit drug threat in East and Southeast Asia", drug workers report how the drug is ruining young lives.
Jigsaw's statistics, from a survey released on Monday, show more than 30 per cent of young drug addicts aged between 16 and 25 years use methamphetamine as their drug of choice.
With an estimated 26 million users of varying forms of the drug globally, it is being called "the world's most dangerous drug".
Victoria has recorded "staggering"increases of methamphetamine use among young people, while Western Australia has seen a rise of small, "one pot" meth labs.
A Medical Journal of Australia study found ambulance call-outs for ambulance call-outs to "ice" users trebled in the two years to July last year.
In August this year, Victorian police said at least 12 murders committed or tried by courts over the past two years, crystal methamphetamine was used by the killer or was otherwise a suspected factor in the crime.
They warned the widespread use of the drug was creating a new level of violence and turning unstable people into dangerous criminals.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer, of Victorian Police intelligence and covert support said: "This is our new heroin".
Victorian Police report up to 80 per cent purity of methamphetamine seized in country towns.
"Crystal methamphetamine addiction is recognised as one of the drivers of violence in our community and for recidivist offending," said Australian Federal Police commander Scott Lee.
However, investigators had identified "a number of vulnerabilities in our borders" linked to "serious and organised crime, particularly international syndicates, that are operating in Victoria".
Commissioner Fontana described methamphetamine as "probably one of the most harmful substances we've come across in recent years in terms of impact on community and it's really challenging us".
"It seems to be the preference of a lot of young people," he said.
"More and more people are taking it and thinking that's OK. We've got to change that attitude."
The United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)'s November 2013 report on amphetamines in South East Asia and the Pacific, identifies Mexico as Australia's "most prominent embarkation point" - citing a single detection of 129.7kg of liquid methamphetamine in October 2011 - followed by Hong Kong, China and Canada.
In late 2012, police arrested Australian bikie gang members on drug charges with alleged links to Mexican drug cartels.
The gang in Australia was reportedly communicating with cartels in Mexico by way of encrypted BlackBerry messages.
The U.S. State Department listed the Mongols, Hells Angels, Bandidos, and Vagos, as all having ties to Mexican drug trafficking organisations in 2011.
America's Drug Enforcement Agency has stated the Sinaloa cartel is the largest supplier of narcotics to Australian gangs.
In early 2013, US court documents stated that the Hells Angels were buying narcotics wholesale from Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and moving it as far as New York and Canada.
The new UNODC reported record high seizures of methamphetamine in both pill and crystalline form.
Professor Farrell said the two major issues for methamphetamine use were psychosis and the HIV risk it posed among the gay male population.
"Unfortunately some men who are using a lot of methamphetamines are eroding safe sexual practices and having unprotected sex," he said.
"In Europe there is a concerning trend called 'planking' which is group sex behaviour on methamphetamine.
"It's a very nasty drug.
"It causes violence, agitation and manic behaviour."
Cont -
http://www.news.com.au/national/dea...-the-new-ice-age/story-fncynjr2-1226758663681
OUT among the new addicts whose young lives are spiralling away in psychosis, at border control checkpoints which increasingly uncover it hidden in bizarre consignments, in the wastelands of public housing where it is the drug of choice.
Methamphetamine is entering a new and deadly age of addiction in Australia.
Drug seizures of amphetamines at Australian borders are at record levels.
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service hauls this year have detected methamphetamines and drug precursors in imports from paint scrapers to bathroom tiles, artificial flower arrangements, a blow-up air bed, steering wheel locks, a fax machine, bolt cutters, cling wrap, a stainless steel trolley, coffee machine and a baby's pram.
Border detections of precursor chemical for amphetamine production are on the increase.
Arrests for clandestine drug laboratories are at record levels.
The number and weight of seizures internally are up more than 50 per cent on last year.
Purity of the drug in some regions is as high as 80 per cent.
Seven years after Australia's last "ice age" turned injecting addicts into hallucination-ridden "zombies" on our streets, the new methamphetamine epidemic gaining a foothold across the nation is younger and deadlier than ever before.
As the Australian Crime Commission identified it to news.com.au as "Australia's highest risk illicit drug market" and the United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime named it as "the top illicit drug threat in East and Southeast Asia", drug workers report how the drug is ruining young lives.
Jigsaw's statistics, from a survey released on Monday, show more than 30 per cent of young drug addicts aged between 16 and 25 years use methamphetamine as their drug of choice.
With an estimated 26 million users of varying forms of the drug globally, it is being called "the world's most dangerous drug".
Victoria has recorded "staggering"increases of methamphetamine use among young people, while Western Australia has seen a rise of small, "one pot" meth labs.
A Medical Journal of Australia study found ambulance call-outs for ambulance call-outs to "ice" users trebled in the two years to July last year.
In August this year, Victorian police said at least 12 murders committed or tried by courts over the past two years, crystal methamphetamine was used by the killer or was otherwise a suspected factor in the crime.
They warned the widespread use of the drug was creating a new level of violence and turning unstable people into dangerous criminals.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer, of Victorian Police intelligence and covert support said: "This is our new heroin".
Victorian Police report up to 80 per cent purity of methamphetamine seized in country towns.
"Crystal methamphetamine addiction is recognised as one of the drivers of violence in our community and for recidivist offending," said Australian Federal Police commander Scott Lee.
However, investigators had identified "a number of vulnerabilities in our borders" linked to "serious and organised crime, particularly international syndicates, that are operating in Victoria".
Commissioner Fontana described methamphetamine as "probably one of the most harmful substances we've come across in recent years in terms of impact on community and it's really challenging us".
"It seems to be the preference of a lot of young people," he said.
"More and more people are taking it and thinking that's OK. We've got to change that attitude."
The United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)'s November 2013 report on amphetamines in South East Asia and the Pacific, identifies Mexico as Australia's "most prominent embarkation point" - citing a single detection of 129.7kg of liquid methamphetamine in October 2011 - followed by Hong Kong, China and Canada.
In late 2012, police arrested Australian bikie gang members on drug charges with alleged links to Mexican drug cartels.
The gang in Australia was reportedly communicating with cartels in Mexico by way of encrypted BlackBerry messages.
The U.S. State Department listed the Mongols, Hells Angels, Bandidos, and Vagos, as all having ties to Mexican drug trafficking organisations in 2011.
America's Drug Enforcement Agency has stated the Sinaloa cartel is the largest supplier of narcotics to Australian gangs.
In early 2013, US court documents stated that the Hells Angels were buying narcotics wholesale from Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and moving it as far as New York and Canada.
The new UNODC reported record high seizures of methamphetamine in both pill and crystalline form.
Professor Farrell said the two major issues for methamphetamine use were psychosis and the HIV risk it posed among the gay male population.
"Unfortunately some men who are using a lot of methamphetamines are eroding safe sexual practices and having unprotected sex," he said.
"In Europe there is a concerning trend called 'planking' which is group sex behaviour on methamphetamine.
"It's a very nasty drug.
"It causes violence, agitation and manic behaviour."
Cont -
http://www.news.com.au/national/dea...-the-new-ice-age/story-fncynjr2-1226758663681
