Mt Gambier community fights back against ice drug scourge: nurses, police, reformed addicts and families share their stories
MT Gambier is a microcosm of the ice scourge that is tearing apart so many communities across Australia. But the south-east city is fighting back.
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IT is South Australia’s biggest town, known for its stunning Blue Lake, sunken gardens and nearby caves but behind Mt Gambier’s tourist facade is a worrying social issue problem tearing apart families — the drug ice.
For those on the frontline — police, health workers and community leaders — the sense of helplessness is giving way to a commitment to take on and contain the scourge.
“I’ve been in Mt Gambier for four years and ice is everywhere, but I’m not surprised even though we’re a small community,” says Gill Brown, a nurse at Mt Gambier Prison.
“It’s quite horrible at times and it affects everybody within the family unit, who struggle with how to help a family member who is addicted.
“It has lots of ramifications and once people get a taste of it, they seem to really struggle to get off it. Nothing is ever normal again.”
Mrs Brown said she felt safer working inside the prison than the Royal Adelaide Hospital emergency department as it was a controlled environment, compared to the ED “where we don’t have security” and drug-fuelled patients would often frighten others. “It’s terrifying, it’s so disruptive for people who are in there being seen for heart attacks or other problems,” she said.
Mrs Brown is among those witnessing first-hand horrific cases of psychosis, violence and self-mutilation — including one man who tried to cut off his genitalia with a shard of glass.
But they have not shied away from the ice epidemic sweeping Australia and recognise the South-East town is “no orphan” to the deadly crystal methamphetamine.
New figures show the number of Australians who were regular users of the drug had tripled to nearly 270,000 in the past five years, according to a University of NSW report.
“What we’ve learnt is that our problem is not necessarily better or worse than any other regional centre in Australia but we’re being proactive about solving it,” Sergeant Andy Stott said.
“We’ve identified we’re lacking in drug education and especially for the frontline workers who normally come into contact with drug issues, so we’re grabbing the bull by the horns.”
South-East police last week revealed details of a six-month drug-trafficking operation, which resulted in 15 arrests and the seizure of $43,000 in cash, more than 12 litres of “fantasy” and 305g of methamphetamine.
But the seizures and arrests represent only a drop in the ocean that is the ice epidemic gripping the town, where deals are done in homes and public spaces.
A cul-de-sac in the town has been dubbed the “crack sack” such is its prominence as a drug hotspot.
Mt Gambier, which was the first stop for the National Ice Taskforce last year, has since worked to rid the town of the drug, which was reportedly being used by children as young as nine.
Interstate experts this month held a two-day workshop in the town to better educate workers at the coalface.
More than 12 welfare agencies were brought together for the workshop, after being organised by the Substance Abuse Misuse Limestone Coast working party.
The volunteer group of Sgt Stott, Associate Professor Judy Nagy, Dr Suzanne Mutton and Sophie Bourchier, have dedicated 15 months towards finding an evidence-based solution to help those affected by drugs.
The Rotary Club and the Mount Gambier and Grant councils funded the workshops and its popularity has ensured another will be held in October.
The Substance Abuse Misuse Limestone Coast working party has also sought funding to established a project officer to run educational workshops in schools.
Deprived of rehab facility
STACEY is slowly watching her once loving, caring 21-year-old son slip away into an unrecognisable man who has become more and more “fixated on getting his next hit”.
Matt does not think he has a problem, despite getting fired from his job, spending his $2000 tax return in two days on drugs and being so high he did not remember being in a car crash.
Having already estranged herself from a drug-addicted brother, Stacey, not her real name, believes she will also soon lose a son.
“He’ll be 22 in November if he lives that long but I literally just had a phone call from his dad who said he’s as high as a kite and was talking absolute gibberish,” she said.
“He’s been on it for four years and he’s gone from someone who was the most caring, giving kid in the world to someone who just doesn’t give a shit.
“He’s thin, he’s aggressive and he’s paranoid.”
Matt, not his real name, started smoking cannabis before trying ice, which he makes into a paste to rub on his gums, apparently in search of “a different type of hit”.
His addiction has divided the family with his sisters preferring him not to be at special occasions, fearing what he might do.
Stacey said her son’s drug addiction had brought to light the lack of services available in Mt Gambier for her family who, she said, were told they would have to wait about seven weeks for a counselling session on how to deal with the situation.
Instead, she reached out to Karen Judd, who lost her 30-year-old son, Jay Virtanen, after an overdose in 2010, ending his 16-year addiction.
Ms Judd has advocated for a detox and drug rehab centre in the region, offering support through the local newspaper to families affected by ice and receiving more than 120 calls in the past year.
She said a former church-owned rehab facility, Karoban, near Naracoorte, which had helped 4000 people over its 20-year history, should be reopened.
“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It’s for sale for $680,000 and all we need to do is staff it,” Mrs Judd said.
“It saddens me to think our State Government haven’t jumped in to buy it.
“In the South-East, I believe we’re severely disadvantaged by a Liberal representative in a Labor state, so I invite Premier Jay Weatherill to call me regarding this matter to do something about the ice problem.”
Former ice addict and now mentor Kate Amoroso collected more than 3000 signatures in support of a rehab facility in the region.
Devil drug killed my friend
JAMES blames himself for not doing more to help his former partner get away from the “devil” drug ice.
He says the woman he once loved eventually ended up in an abusive relationship before dying in western Victoria earlier this year.
“I told her straight out that if she didn’t get out of the relationship and off the gear (ice) that she’d die,” said James, who did not want to reveal his real name.
“I told her over and over. Her partner was right into the ice and he dragged her into it and, in the end, he bashed her with a hammer.
“Now her children, who are all under the age of 18, don’t have a mother and it’s all because of that filthy drug ice.” James said his former partner discharged herself from hospital four days after the attack but died the same day.
Police, who have charged her new partner with murder, are investigating whether the injuries she sustained caused her death.
James said that the last time he saw her she admitted she had “sold her life to the devil drug”, but the itch for more “hits” was too strong for her to kick the habit.
He said he cut ties with her, mostly to look after his own health, and to also not ruin the memory of the woman he once loved, who was now barely recognisable because of the effects of her drug-taking.
“She changed so much, she lost so much weight and her attitude was angry all the time – it was sort of like she had schizophrenia. She was always all over the shop,” he said.
James urged people not to turn a blind eye to the problem infiltrating towns across Australia, as the drug “is everywhere and it doesn’t discriminate – that’s how evil it is”.
“People need to have their eyes open to what’s happening around them and keep an eye on their kids,” he said.
“Just last week, a friend found two bags full of ice outside the front of their daughter’s house.
“Could you imagine if a child had found it there?”
If you or anyone you know needs help, call:
Lifeline - 13 11 14
Quitline - 13 78 48
Alcohol and Drug Information Service (SA) – 1300 131 340
Family Drug Support – 1300 368 186