Baabayn Aboriginal Corporation hosting Mt Druitt Says No To Ice event
ST MARYS mum Karen Syed gave up ice two years ago but said during her darkest days she went for a week without sleep and months without seeing her son. She tells her story.
The Standard
Don't miss out on the headlines from The Standard. Followed categories will be added to My News.
CHILDREN as young as 11 are becoming addicted to methamphetamine, more commonly known as ice.
Baabayn Aboriginal Corporation chairwoman Aunty Margaret Farrell said ice was ruining young lives — and something needed to be done.
“We’ve known of children as young as 11 and 12 on it — that young,” Ms Farrell said. “We try to get their parents to come to our group.”
Baabayn, started six years ago by Aboriginal elders as a place of healing, will host Mt Druitt Says No To Ice at Mt Druitt pools this month in a bid to combat the region’s stimulant addiction.
Ms Farrell said the area’s Aboriginal community was highly dependent on ice, a fact that spurred the first event last year and drew more than 2000 people.
“We just wanted to help our own kids, all the young ones that are really addicted to this awful stuff,” she said.
“It breaks your heart to see them like that and then they end up in institutions like the hospitals and mental health departments.”
According to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, from October 2015 to last September the rate of using or possessing amphetamines in Mt Druitt was 283 per 100,000 people — more than double the NSW rate of 132.4. In Tregear it was four times the NSW rate — 586.9 per 100,000 people — and neighbouring Emerton, Lethbridge Park and Willmot were close behind.
Mt Druitt police crime manager Dave Goddard said ice was highly addictive and had, led to out-of-control users committing crimes in the area.
“Any drug that’s addictive like ice is a no-go — particularly in our youth,” Detective Inspector Goddard said.
“It doesn’t just affect kids, it spans all ages. I’ve heard of people well in their 40s and 50s using it. Don’t take it, nothing good comes from it ... If you’ve got an addiction, you mostly have to get the money by illegal means.”
He urged anyone with a drug addiction to seek professional treatment.
A Western Sydney Local Health District spokeswoman said the region’s struggle with ice was escalating.
“Hospitalisations relating to crystal methamphetamine use continues to be a rising issue across western Sydney and NSW,” she said.
She said the district’s drug health service treated people aged 18 and above, while younger patients were seen by Headspace and other services for adolescents.
Ms Farrell said Baabayn would liaise with police during the upcoming event, which would link ice users up with available services.
“It is a fun way to get the community together and stress that the ice epidemic is really rife in our community,” she said.
● Baabayn Aboriginal Corporation is hosting the Mt Druitt Says No To Ice event at Mt Druitt pools
● It will be held from 10am to on Saturday, February 25, in a bid to combat the region’s shocking addiction to ice
● For more information call 0421 178 684
FROM A 39KG ADDICT TO A DEDICATED MUM
During he darkest days of her ice addiction, Karen Syed weighed 39kg, would not sleep for a week and went months without seeing her son.
“I was really addicted, it had me, I needed it,” Ms Syed, 25, told The Standard.
“I used to get a few 50s, that’s a bag, a day and that still wouldn’t do.
“I had no worry in the world, every time I got up that’s what I needed to go get. I was lazy, I was scattered, and I was better than everyone — I felt that I was.”
Clean for two years and a dedicated mother to her seven-year-old son, the North St Marys resident said she was sharing her story hoping it will inspire others to steer clear of the substance which tore her world apart.
She said at one point she stole a “trolley full” of items from Kmart at Mt Druitt, to sell for ice.
“I can honestly say I nearly went as far as sleeping with a dealer; I would never do that stuff,” Ms Syed said.
“I had a house at Mt Druitt, but everyone was coming and going.
“I’d go and come back and all the doors and everything had been taken.”
It started when the man she was in a relationship with was an addict, and it took her just one time to become dependant on ice.
The program co-ordinator of a young mum’s group hosted by Baabayn Aboriginal Corporation, Ms Syed lost her son twice in the midst of her battle.
She now thanks her son’s grandmother who told her if she wasn’t clean, she couldn’t see him.
Ms Syed said her boy was her motivation to visit rehab and, even though she failed her first stint, she went back and succeeded.
“The time I have to be able to sit down and play with him, and listen to what he says, I think ‘Whoa, I must have missed out on so much’,” she said.
Ms Syed has lost friends, seen others die from an ice addiction, a met dealers who would give ice to “anyone,” even children, despite being parents themselves.
“It is very scary, I don’t want my son to have the same past I did ... I want him to have a better future, to grow up knowing there’s more to life than drugs and alcohol; get a job and a car.”
Her message to anyone addicted to drugs was simply to “get help”.
“Talking to someone and making plans is the first step,” she said.
Meet the talented young artists from ARTEXPRESS 2025
The annual art exhibition which shows some of the most outstanding and exemplary artworks across NSW by HSC visual arts students has opened. Meet the students and see their amazing works.
‘A privilege’: Ceremonies continue, regardless of ‘cranky’ Dutton plan
Sydney and regional councils are embracing Australia Day citizenship ceremonies, with one outspoken mayor reminding the Opposition Leader he doesn’t need to start a “petty culture” fight.