Ice users rife in country Victoria: Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission report

RURAL Victorians are among the most prolific users of ice in the country, with some areas having a record one hit per 11 people every day.

RURAL Victorians are among the most prolific users of ice in the country, with some areas having a record one hit per 11 people every day.

The true enormity of the nation’s deadly ice plague has been revealed by secretly testing the waste water of 14 million Australians.

This unprecedented operation showed consumption of the methylamphetamine based drug is at an all time high, with Australia now being second behind Slovakia on the list of the world’s biggest users of it.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission ordered the covert wastewater testing at the inlets of 51 sewage treatment plants across the nation.

It did so to get the first accurate and evidence-based measure of the size of Australia’s ice problem, as well as determine what amounts of other harmful substances are being taken.

The ACIC will use the test results to flush out the cooks and dealers making and distributing ice and other illegal drugs for the growing Australian market.

An ACIC report on Australia’s first national wastewater drug monitoring program will be released on Sunday by Justice Minister Michael Keenan.

Chris Dawson, head of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

The 60-page report, which has been seen by the Sunday Herald Sun, also revealed:

—COUNTRY Victorians are by far the biggest abusers of the highly addictive and dangerous drug dubbed “Hillbilly Heroin”, the morphine-based painkiller oxycodone.

—THE national average daily consumption of ice in Australia is one hit for every 28 people.

—ALCOHOL and tobacco use is by far the highest in the Northern Territory while some areas of regional Tasmania and Queensland are also substantially above the national daily average of 1200 standard drinks per 1000 people and 1400 cigarettes per 1000 people per day.

—SYDNEY has been confirmed as the nation’s cocaine capital with users snorting up to 30 cocaine hits a day per 1000 people, compared with the up to six daily hits per 1000 people in Melbourne and the national average of just three hits per 1000 people per day.

—THE highest use of ecstasy in Australia is in regional Tasmania at up to 34 tablets per 1000 people per day, compared with the daily national average of two tablets per 1000 people and the up to nine tablets per 1000 per day consumed in Melbourne.

The new ACIC report provided the first true measure of the demand in Australia for a range of legal and illegal drugs. Picture: File. Paul Melville.

ACIC chief executive Chris Dawson told the Sunday Herald Sun the sewage testing program had identified ice as the highest consumed illicit drug in Australia, with usage in some areas — including Victoria — at historic highs.

He said the new ACIC report provided the first true measure of the demand in Australia for a range of legal and illegal drugs.

“An understanding of this behaviour then permits governments to effectively direct resources to priority areas and also to monitor the progress of demand and supply reduction strategies,” Mr Dawson said.

He said the ACIC received $3.6 million from Justice Minister Michael Keenan to fund its wastewater analysis program, with the cash coming directly from the proceeds of crime seized by law enforcement agencies.

Mr Keenan told the Sunday Herald Sun that raw sewage samples from 51 metropolitan and rural sites around Australia had been tested for ice and 12 other illicit and licit drugs, including cocaine, ecstasy, tobacco and alcohol.

“The results provide us with the greatest ever insight into what drugs are being consumed and where, with the covert testing covering 58 per cent of Australia’s population — about 14 million people,” he said.

“It will change the way our nation fights the scourge of ice.

“The report’s findings drive home the message that we can’t simply arrest our way out of this problem. We must tackle the demand for illicit drugs in Australia.

“The Coalition is investing almost $300 million to support actions resulting from the National Ice Action Strategy to improve treatment, after care, education, prevention and community engagement.

“We are also tackling the supply of ice through increased international co-operation, enhanced intelligence sharing, better controls of precursor chemicals and greater efforts to prevent ice reaching our regional and remote communities.”

Mr Keenan said sewage sites where the wastewater was tested were not being revealed because doing so would alert criminals to the research and defeat its purpose.

But he said police and other agencies would have access to the secret information in a classified report so they can direct resources to the areas of highest ice and other drug usage.

HOW IT WORKS

WHEN an illicit drug is taken — irrespective of whether it is swallowed, snorted, smoked or injected — it is processed by the liver into metabolite.

Metabolite is then excreted into the toilet through the urine and faeces of drug users and flushed into the sewage system.

The groundbreaking Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission operation involves collecting raw wastewater samples at the inlets of sewage treatment plants at 51 metropolitan and rural sites in every state and territory.

Those samples are then chemically analysed by scientists from the University of Queensland and the University of South Australia to get the first ever accurate estimate of the daily consumption of ice, ecstasy, cocaine and other drugs in Australia.

Experts around the world have determined this wastewater testing method is a significantly more efficient system of painting a true picture of the level of drug use than the old method of researchers simply surveying users.

Consumption of the methylamphetamine based drug is at an highest, with Australia now being second behind Slovakia on the list of the world’s biggest users of it.

WHILE the testing of raw sewage as a means of establishing the level of illegal and legal drug use is relatively new in Australia, it has been done for years in other countries around the world.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission report has produced “league tables” using its new data to show where Australia stands in comparison to other countries as far as consumption of ice, cocaine, ecstasy, alcohol and tobacco go.

Of the 18 countries with comparable wastewater testing programs for the four common illegal stimulant drugs, ice, amphetamines, cocaine and ecstasy, Australia comes in at number two behind Slovakia.

The international comparison shows cocaine use in Australia is much lower than in most European countries — although Sydney bucks the national trend with many more coke snorters there than anywhere else in Australia.

Australians come in at number four on the international ecstasy use table, seventh for alcohol and fourth for tobacco.