SA summit needed to fight ice epidemic
There is an evil epidemic spreading through our city, suburbs, towns and regions. It causes violence and despair, rips families apart and ruins lives. As a local parliamentarian I have seen what ice can do to a community- as a young person I have seen what it can do to the individual. Tackling this drug is not about politics. It is about social responsibility.
The national ice taskforce announced by Prime Minister Abbott is a long overdue push by the Government to try and curb the scourge of drugs in our society. All Australians must join together to fight this public battle.
As a member of Generation Y, it is incumbent on me and my other colleagues around the nation to take the lead on this issue. It is our generation that is suffering from this social evil and we must rectify it now.
As a 28-year-old Member of Parliament, I represent not only my electorate but also many in Generation Y.
The methamphetamine most commonly used is ‘ice”. The ice epidemic that is sweeping Australia is the single biggest social problem we have.
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I have never tried drugs, but many of my generation have. The drug of choice for Generation Y is methamphetamine, whether it’s ice, MDMA or other derivatives. In Adelaide, ice will sell for about $50 per ‘point’ and an ecstasy pill can sell for approximately $20-$25 per pill. The cost of buying methamphetamine during a night out is cheaper than having a few beers.
Previous generations have experienced waves of various drugs that have been ‘fashionable’ at the time. Cannabis was a favourite drug of baby boomers in the 1960s and heroin in the 1980s.
Cannabis is still a commonly used drug. There is a commonly held and disputed theory that cannabis is a gateway drug. Research shows that the majority of ice users have used cannabis as well. In Australia this is probably the case.
The concentration of THC far exceeds levels of that in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of the cannabis grown and consumed today would once upon a time be considered ‘skunk’. Today everything is ‘skunk’.
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But this new wave of drug addiction is different. Methamphetamine is unquestionably the most destructive illegal narcotic that Australians have consumed. It leads to extreme and irrational violence, often as a result of drug induced psychosis.
In 2015, heroin and cocaine still exist on the street, but are more expensive and harder to obtain and as a consequence are much rarer. Heroin and cannabis addictions are extremely serious. Their affects are long lasting and destructive. But they are rarely so destructive for others around them as ice.
We have a responsibility as a community to do more to tackle this threat to our way of life.
There needs to be an urgent summit held comprising of experts including police, doctors and all three levels of government. This summit has to develop a strategy for confronting this calamity.
Instead of just introducing harsher penalties for drug traffickers, we need to focus on the root of the issue.
Vincent Tarzia is the state MP for Hartley. He is a member of the Liberal Party.
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