Police call for people power in fight to take down drug barons
Police are seizing record hauls of ice but South Australia’s appetite for it is growing. Now cops are calling on people power to help bring down the drug barons as tens of thousands suffer.
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South Australian police on the frontline battle against drug barons are urging the community to help as the use of the drug ice shows no signs of abating.
New figures obtained by the Sunday Mail show the Joint Agency Ice Strike Team, set up to tackle the insidious drug, have seized 79kg of methamphetamine with a street value of almost $40 million in just 18 months.
Health workers estimate between 20,000 and 50,000 South Australians each year are not getting the help they need to curb their addiction.
South Australians face waiting lists of between four and ten weeks for rehabilitation service.
The latest SA Health data shows that although methamphetamine consumption levels are below those seen in 2016 and 2017 they have increased since June 2019.
In response to questions from the Sunday Mail Health Minister Steven Wade has confirmed a $11 million per annum reinvestment in drug and alcohol treatment and assessment services.
Detectives Steve Taylor and Darren Fielke said in Adelaide – that has gained and maintained the unwanted mantle of methamphetamine capital of Australia – appetite for the drug is not showing signs of abating.
The pair they have seen everything – from suburban chemist wannabes cooking up the drug ice in dodgy backyard clandestine labs to organised crime figureheads maintaining lavish lifestyles – as part of the 18 month old Joint Agency Ice Strike Team that also includes members from various government agencies from the Australian Federal Police to the Australian Taxation Office.
Since January last year Detective Superintendent Taylor – office in charge of the serious and organised crime branch – and Detective Chief Inspector Fielke – officer in charge of the drug and organised crime branch – have seen drug dealers attempting to smuggle ice via picture frames, dealers putting their own products reviews on dark web sites selling their wares and more sophisticated ways of drug dealing.
Detective Chief Inspector Fielke said in the past five years ice seizures have grown with police “seeing more than we ever have.
“People can buy it from the street corner, from the post, or a car that has come across the border but at the end of the day the drug market is driven by organise criminal groups at a pretty high level.
“You don’t you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get some ice inside your ice pipe and your drug addiction starts.
“But (it) is not just about someone having a smoke …. It is destructive for families, on friendships, on them personally, on the health system … it underpins a lot of domestic violence,” he said.
“There are broad and far reaching implications of the use and the addiction.”
Detective Superintendent Taylor said over the last five years there has been an increase in the uptake of the illicit use of ice which is basically a very pure form of methamphetamine.
“It is basically a business like any other business and there’s a big appetite for it,” he said.
The solution, he said, is a combination of a number of things including education from a young age.
“I can’t really talk about penalties but we certainly put people before the courts and there would not be a police officer alive that isn’t sometimes frustrated by some of the results and sentencing that we see for offenders,” he said.
“Crime in the community is not just a policing problem it’s a community problem.
“(The drug trade) is not okay and it’s not acceptable.
“It is our job to stop it, but we also ask wherever possible for the community step up and provide support if they see something suspicious.”
Appetite for ice greater than ever
Detectives Steve Taylor and Darren Fielke said in Adelaide – that has gained and maintained the unwanted mantle of methamphetamine capital of Australia – appetite for the drug is not showing signs of abating.
The pair they have seen everything – from suburban chemist wannabes cooking up the drug ice in dodgy backyard clandestine labs to organised crime figureheads maintaining lavish lifestyles – as part of the 18 month old Joint Agency Ice Strike Team that also includes members from various government agencies from the Australian Federal Police to the Australian Taxation Office.
Since January last year Detective Superintendent Taylor – office in charge of the serious and organised crime branch – and Detective Chief Inspector Fielke – officer in charge of the drug and organised crime branch – have seen drug dealers attempting to smuggle ice via picture frames, dealers putting their own products reviews on Dark web sites selling their wares and more sophisticated ways of drug dealing.
Detective Chief Inspector Fielke said in the past five years ice seizures have grown with police “seeing more than we ever have.
“People can buy it from the street corner, from the post, or a car that has come across the border but at the end of the day the drug market is driven by organise criminal groups at a pretty high level.
“You don’t you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get some ice inside your ice pipe and your addictive highly addictive drug addiction starts.
“But (it) is not just about someone having a smoke …. It is destructive for families, on friendships, on them personally, on the health system … it underpins a lot of domestic violence,” he said.
“There are broad and far reaching implications of the use and the addiction.”
Detective Superintendent Taylor said over the last five years there has been an increase in the uptake of the illicit use of ice which is basically a very pure form of methamphetamine.
“It is basically a business like any other business and there’s a big appetite for it,” he said.
The solution, he said, is a combination of a number of things including education from a young age.
“I can’t really talk about penalties but we certainly put people before the courts and there would not be a police officer alive that isn’t sometimes frustrated by some of the results and sentencing that we see for offenders,” he said.
“Crime in the community is not just a policing problem it’s a community problem.
“(The drug trade) is not okay and it’s not acceptable.
“It is our job to stop it, but we also ask wherever possible for the community step up and provide support if they see something suspicious.”
Fears 50,000 ice addicts missing out on help
As many as 136 South Australians could be missing out on help to curb their drug and alcohol addictions every day, the rehabilitation sector fears.
Not enough money is in the system to tackle addictions, according to South Australian Network of Drug and Alcohol Services executive director Michael White.
His warning comes five years after the Federal Government’s high-profile National Ice Action Strategy.
Last month, SA again retained its unwanted crown as the methamphetamine capital of the country, based on a national wastewater analysis.
A key outcome from the National Ice Action Strategy was increasing funding by $60 million – double the amount of federal money already dedicated to drugs and alcohol services – to tackle the growth of the methamphetamine drug ice.
Mr White said the “desperately needed” funding was very welcome but it wasn’t enough.
“We still think there are around 20,000 to 50,000 South Australians each year who cannot access drug and alcohol services because the sector does not have capacity,” he said, acknowledging the number was difficult to quantify.
The average wait for rehabilitation services can range from four weeks for non-government services to 8-10 weeks for the State Government’s Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia (DASSA) residential rehabilitation service.
Mr White said timely support was “tremendously important”.
“There are people that don’t know they have a problem, then they become aware they have a problem, they contemplate change and then they are ready for change,” he said. “If they get to the point where they are ready to change and they can’t access a service, that frustration at self or some other life frustration may result in them going back to the previous behaviour and saying ‘this is too hard’ and they step away from wanting to change.”
DASSA state director Marina Bowshall said SA had targeted strategies and support services addressing methamphetamine use – including 44 rehabilitation beds in various locations. It also used specialist drug dependence treatment services to tackle methamphetamine use and was expanding family drug support programs in the Riverland, Port Augusta, Barossa Valley and Adelaide.
Health Minister Steven Wade has confirmed an $11 million-a-year reinvestment in drug and alcohol treatment and assessment services. “We know the provision of drug and alcohol treatment and assessment services within our community is vital so that those who need support can continue to access it,” he said.
Originally published as Police call for people power in fight to take down drug barons