Rehabilitation The Key To Control Of Ice
Sun Herald
Sunday April 22, 2007
LAST week a man with a red mohawk haircut threatened a three-month old baby boy with a screwdriver and tipped up his pram before slamming his mother's head into a tree during a daylight robbery in Leichhardt. Robberies are not unusual, but what sort of person, even a hardened criminal, would brandish a screwdriver in the face of a sleeping infant? An ice addict, that's who.
It hasn't been confirmed, but police strongly suspect it. A hallmark of users of the drug ice, or crystal methamphetamine, is warped and grotesque behaviour. It can strip sexual inhibitions and cause paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, violent behaviour and psychosis. Today, the Federal Government will announce $150 million in new spending to help combat the scourge of ice addiction. It's the latest phase of the Government's $1.3 billion Tough on Drugs strategy. So far, much of its spending has been stubbornly focused on law enforcement and abstinence, with echoes of the US war on drugs. But most of this new round of funding, $80 million, will be used to provide rehabilitation services for ice addicts, with the remainder going towards drug prevention education and law enforcement. It follows closely the advice of the Australian National Council on Drugs position paper on methamphetamines released in January, that recommended more investment in treatment for ice addicts.Is the Government wasting money by pandering to users of a party drug? Not at all. Ice now accounts for the largest proportion of people admitted to hospital with drug-induced psychosis. Read about some of the more horrifying incidents in the news these days, and there is a good chance that psychotic ice addicts are behind them. They include the man who shot a policewoman at Wetherill Park last year, and a man who bashed and ordered the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in 2004. But none illustrated the heinous effects of the drug better than the case of ice addict Brendan McMahon, who mutilated and molested rabbits in a psychotic frenzy. Police Commissioner Ken Moroney also recently blamed ice for a surge in violent robberies in parts of Sydney. Rehabilitation services for addicts are urgently needed. Every addict without access to treatment is a potential danger. The latest round of funding shows that the Government is taking the threat posed by ice addicts seriously, and that it is no longer seen as just a "party" drug. It goes some way towards accepting what experts such as St Vincent's Hospital drug and alcohol services director Alex Wodak have been campaigning about for years: drug use is a health problem, not just a police matter. Ultimately, community safety is at stake. Responsibility for election comment in this issue is taken by Simon Dulhunty, 201 Sussex Street, Sydney, 2000.The Sun-Herald is printed at 1 Worth Street, Chullora, 2190, by Fairfax Printers Pty Ltd, ACN 068 675 221, for publisher John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd, ACN 003 357 720, of 201 Sussex Street, Sydney, 2000. Postal address: GPO Box 506, Sydney, 2001.THE First World War veterans are all gone, and the ranks of the Second World War veterans are thinning year by year.The youngest now must be nearly 80 years old, but when the trumpets sound on Wednesday they will once again line up to pay tribute to fallen mates, remember the good times and discover those who are no longer with them.It is important that as the torch of Anzac Day passes to the next generation it does not become a celebration of militarism, nor a jingoistic cashing in on the sentiments we hold dear for the diggers. There is a new generation risking their lives in war and we stand for them too. It is the day to express our gratitude to these men and women for what they did, the Australian values they upheld, and the sacrifices they made for us to have the freedom we have today. We say thank you, and may you enjoy this very special day.
© 2007 Sun Herald