Colin James: I’m sick of meth-heads overrunning Adelaide so we must form an army to fight SA’s ice scourge

BEING accosted by abusive meth-heads as he walks through Adelaide’s CBD to and from work, or at lunch, has become a common occurrence, writes Colin James.

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EVERY South Australian should be deeply concerned, if not horrified, by the latest wastewater testing results which show Adelaide has become the ice capital of the nation. Crystal methamphetamine is a scourge, a hideously destructive drug, which is destroying the fabric of our often troubled society.

Those who consume it become violent, psychotic, dysfunctional and anti-social. Many become next to useless, offering little to our community. They commit crime to feed their habit, preying on those trying to make an honest living and are a burden on their partners, families, the police, our hospitals and the courts. They deserve nothing but the title they have been bestowed with: meth-heads.

Personally, I am sick to death of them, these meth-heads, accosting me as I walk through the Adelaide central business district on my way to work in the morning, when I go to get my lunch or as I leave at the end of the day to catch the bus or go for a beer. I am sick to death of them asking me for coins, sick to death of them abusing me when I refuse to hand any over and sick to death of them lying or sitting on footpaths in our busiest pedestrian thoroughfares, jeering at passers-by, especially females.

After working on Waymouth St for almost 30 years, I can no longer distinguish between the increasing numbers of homeless people or meth-heads. I have no idea who is which any more. Those, who through circumstances often beyond their control have found themselves no longer with roofs over their heads or those, initially with complete control, who have chosen to repeatedly snort, smoke or inject themselves with a vile, insidious drug which destroys their brains and turns them into nasty, unstable, filthy, dangerous and irrational individuals.

As a result, my days of helping anyone on the street, even in the depth of winter or scorching heat of summer, are gone. Unlike days gone by, I do not engage, I do not start a conversation, I do not ask after their wellbeing. I do not offer them any money or check if they need shelter or food. I avoid anyone who is dirty, unkempt, gaunt, twitchy or agitated. I simply cannot be bothered.

Neither do I want to be punched, kicked or spat on as I have seen happen to others on frequent wanderings through our city during the day and at night.

Australian Federal Police guard pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in methamphetamine, during a press conference in Melbourne. Picture: AAP

Anyone who thinks methamphetamine is a benign drug which can be taken safely with no side effects is as stupid as those who use it. For a start, it is highly addictive. Many users are hooked after two or three hits. Secondly, it has hugely damaging effects, especially on the neurological system.

Years ago, when ice was first becoming a problem, a forensic pathologist told me how, when he dissected brains, he would hold a section up to the fluoros in the morgue and look for pin pricks of light coming through small holes.

As soon as he saw them, he knew he was determining the cause of death of a meth-head. Ice literally drills holes like termite tunnels through the cerebrum, causing permanent and often fatal damage.

What meth usage does to the face.

Dealing with people with holes through their brains is not easy. Various criminal defence lawyers have told me it is difficult getting meth-heads to give them clear instructions while representing them at trials over the multitude of crimes they commit daily across SA, leaving countless victims in their wake.

Nurses, paramedics and doctors have horror stories of what meth-heads can be like when they turn up in the backs of ambulances or police cars at hospital emergency departments, usually the RAH. They are paranoid, psychotic, violent — and usually suffering hallucinations.

Those meth-heads I have dealt with first-hand over the years as a reporter covering crime and our courtrooms ooze criminality, hopelessness and a sense of desperation. They steal constantly to score their next fix and cannot be trusted. At all. They lose their moral compass. Nothing matters but getting out of it again.

Several weeks ago, I got home from work to find my house had been broken into, every room ransacked, every drawer emptied, every wardrobe turned over, every coin jar emptied. The bathroom had been a key target, as was the cupboard in the kitchen where I keep my Panadol. Most of what they took was the veritable Cash Converters shopping list — sunglasses, a Fit Bit, two cordless drills, my surfboard, a wetsuit, my road bike and my youngest son’s pride and joy, a remote control two-stroke dune buggy. Both the police officer who attended and I came to the same immediate conclusion. I had been burgled by meth-heads. As, no doubt, numerous other householders had that day across Adelaide, up at Port Augusta, down in Mt Gambier and over at Whyalla.

For methamphetamine is not just a huge problem in Adelaide. It is a massive issue for regional South Australia, where unemployment is high and boredom higher. No part of the state is being spared, from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands to Berri, Gawler to Victor Harbor, Hackham West to West Lakes. Ice is everywhere, from outer suburban hovels shared by the multi-generational unemployed to the inner-city offices of property developers. Its use in South Australia has tripled over the past four years. The time for action, decisive and effective, has arrived. And it must be taken.

The State Government, to its credit, earlier this year formed a task force to try to find ways to combat the ice epidemic. In June, it committed what some might consider a paltry $8 million to various initiatives, including making more treatment available, providing extra drug dogs and improving awareness in workplaces, sporting clubs and community organisations. Out of all the initiatives, there is one which every South Australian can seize — the “dob in a dealer”campaign. The police and the courts cannot fight the ice scourge on their own. But if every South Australian who knows someone is selling methamphetamine or suspects there is a clandestine drug laboratory in their neighbourhood tells the police, then a small force becomes an army.

If we join together to fight this epidemic we might just be able to get on top of it. But it will take all of us.