Insight: Oct 6

This week Insight looks at Ice rehabilitation and explores what worked for users who kicked the habit.

Drug users say getting off and staying off ice is really tough, so if your child or loved one is on the drug – what do you do?

Negotiating the system is not easy. Public? Private? For how long?

There are a myriad of treatment services, all providing different levels of care, experience and cost. But that’s assuming you can get in, with some people forced to wait weeks or even months for a place.

Unlike other drugs, it takes over a year for the brain to re-balance itself after using. For many, it’s just easier to go back to old habits.

We look at the treatments available, hear from people in recovery and discuss the challenges with those on the frontline of our rehabilitation services.

Guests include:

Ethan Petty
Started using ice two years ago – initially smoking on the weekend but by the end he was injecting. Ethan recently stopped using. “It’s hard to like break a cycle, but it’s easy to fall back into it because that’s what you know”

Tiffany Petty
Tiffany’s son started using ice last year. Since then she has experienced the struggles of trying to help a family member get clean with little support. “You don’t know if you’re doing the right thing or not because … you’re not taught to deal with this.”

Jenna Roberts
Used ice from age 16 to 23, which impacted her university degree. She is now clean and works at NSW Health after a lengthy battle to get clean. “I got told that I would not get clean the first time and not even to bother.”

Jay Morris
Started using ice two years ago; recently stopped using. “Staying clean for me is having a routine and it’s starting to make sure every day of my life is an honest day.”

Nicole Lee
Assoc Prof at National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction. “The neuroscience data shows us that…it can be 12 to 18 months before those brain systems are functioning back to normal again.”

Gerard Byrne
Recovery Services, Salvation Army. “We open the phone line at 8 o’clock, by 20 past 8 the assessments for a week out are booked out.”

Joe Coyte – The Glen Centre
The Glen Rehab – residential rehab and transition program. “Between 2010 and 2014 we’ve seen a 48 per cent increase in the number of people who come to us for assistance with ice and then in the last year there’s been another 64 per cent increase.”

Tuesday at 8.30pm on SBS.