Victorians spending $4m a day on methamphetamine

Sewage testing has uncovered a number of alarming drug usage discoveries, with Melbourne recording shocking results for meth usage.

Victorians are spending an average of $4m a day on ice as it cements its place as the state’s most consumed illicit drug.

The most recent National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program report found just under 3000kg of methamphetamine was used in Victoria last year. That represents 30 million doses when broken down to a standard deal of one-tenth of a gram, known as a point.

At the current price of around $50 for a point of ice, that makes a total statewide expenditure of $1.5bn.

It is Victoria’s most consumed drug and used at higher levels in the country than in Melbourne. Much of the trade in rural towns and cities is controlled by organised crime distribution networks based in Melbourne.

Although police say consumption of meth is at its lowest level since 2016, investigators have made some massive busts in the past year as syndicates cash in on inexhaustible demand.

In January, the drug task force made one of the biggest non-import seizures in the state’s history – a total of 20kg of cocaine, methylamphetamine, MDMA, and 1,4-bute and $1.5m in cash at a Moonee Ponds apartment.

3000kg of methamphetamine was used in Victoria last year

An unemployed tradesman in his 30s with no criminal history was later intercepted in Coolaroo, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. A search of the car he was driving allegedly turned up another 50kg of meth and 32kg of cocaine.

Much of the meth is believed to have been manufactured in the state.

Last year, industrial-scale ice-cooking operations were discovered on rural properties in Victoria.

Many of the biggest police operations have found the meth trafficking is being done in conjunction with cocaine dealing.

State police and federal counterparts from the AFP and Border Force investigating seaports and air cargo and mail trafficking have made significant arrests in the past year.

In November 560kg of liquid methylamphetamine valued at about $123m was found stashed in mustard bottles imported from the USA.

Over 80kg of methamphetamine was found in a consignment of meat smokers flown in from South Africa in January.

Victorians with a history of meth addiction have been involved in high-level critical incidents this year, including homicides, a police shooting and a fatal pursuit.

Major road accidents and volume crime such as burglaries and thefts are frequently linked to offenders using the drug.

And there is increasing concern about the link between ice, and other drugs, to the use and trafficking of guns.

A Victoria Police statement said it was sometimes hard to work out whether meth was the sole cause of the offending, “or simply a single contributing factor alongside other issues such as mental health, financial pressures, personal disputes, and family history”.

Detectives from the drug task force and clandestine laboratories squad, working with criminal proceeds investigators, have in the past year intensified their attack on the financial base of big traffickers.

“Police are focused on targeting the unexplained wealth and proceeds of crime linked to the drug trade, with the ultimate aim being to prevent these groups from inflicting more harm on the community,” a statement said.