★★★★★ 0/5

The Feed: Sept 25

The Feed will present a special report on ice addiction prevalence in regional and rural Victoria.

2
Leave a comment

feed4On Thursday night SBS 2 show The Feed will present a special report on ice addiction prevalence in regional and rural Victoria and the effect it’s having on the towns of Horsham and Shepparton.

“No one is immune to ice use and that’s what we are seeing here. We’re seeing older users, we’re seeing working class people, we’re seeing the poor, the unemployed. We’re seeing people from all those walks of life using ice.” – Brendan Scale, Drug and Alcohol Counselor, Grampians Community Health.

The Feed’s Walkley Award winning producer Joel Tozer and supervising producer Lanneke Hargreaves meet with addicts, health professionals, local police, community leaders, families affected by addiction and locals moving away from these areas to investigate the impact this epidemic is having on these towns.

“Exceptionally young people are finding themselves addicted to ice. I’ve had people as young as 11 and 13 appearing before the court addicted to ice,” Victorian Magistrate Stella Stuthridge, told The Feed.

Police say ice use in small towns across Victoria has grown to an unprecedented level. Many towns such as Horsham are holding town meetings to try to tackle the issue. Inspector Trevor Ashton, a Hosham police officer attending a public forum last month told The Feed that the town has one of the highest rates of positive drug driving in Victoria with currently one in ten drivers testing positive.

“I’ve seen families torn apart. Well-structured family units, loving families. I’ve witnessed road trauma. I’ve witnessed psychotic episodes, I don’t know how much more I can take,” said Inspector Trevor Ashton, of the Horsham Police Force.

The town of Shepparton just four hours from Horsham is also battling a crippling drug problem. The Feed spoke to a local resident who said;

“In Shepparton ice use has skyrocketed…you can see it on people when you go out to say the nightclubs, or on the streets. Even during the day…”

In Horsham there are currently no detox facilities for ice. A recent parliamentary inquiry into methamphetamine use is calling for more rehabilitation beds in regional areas.

Victorian Magistrate Stella Stuthridge vented her frustration on the lack of services.

“It is frustrating when you have people coming to court and you think you have a real opportunity to force them to do some sort of rehabilitation and the facilities and the services are just not there,” said Stuthridge.

7.30pm Thursday on SBS 2.

2 Responses

  1. How about we educate kids on the physical and mental health issues related to drugs and drug-taking, at school, from an early age.

    But that ain’t gonna happen. Too much common sense in that idea.

  2. Such an important story … such an under estimated disaster our society is facing right now!
    Just today I heard from a father whose son has been addicted to Ice for some years and that has meant he owes the drug dealers tens of thousands of dollars, they have smashed down his doors, smashed up his house, taken his sons car, given the son black eyes and missing teeth and no-one can touch the monsters that are responsible for this!
    To make it worse we have had no significant increase in our local Police numbers since the 1980’s … yes, 1980’s … while the population here has grown by over 100,000 people. We are living in a “ghetto waiting to explode” and no-one is creating any real solutions.
    Everyone’s life is being ruined by this Ice Plague!

Leave a Reply