The availability of the drug ice, its affordability and its acceptability make it more dangerous than heroin, according to Melton police.
Detective Senior Constable John Hageman attributed the rising crime in the area to the ice scourge which has affected the nation.
“It is an issue and has been recognised as an issue,” he said. “It’s an issue the courts are aware of and it’s as big as it’s reported by the media.”
But he also reminded residents that ice use wasn’t the only cause of crime and the problem wasn’t just isolated to Melton.
“There’s generally a pattern with ice use,” Senior Constable Hageman said.
“It ends up with the person being unemployed because of their addiction and they may start dealing, trafficking or stealing to fund their own use.”
Police have upped their operations to target local drug traffickers.
In the past two months, they have arrested three men from the Melton district who were in possession of large sums of money and traffickable quantities of ice and cannabis.
Two men had $100,000 in cash and the other had $10,000. The incidents were unrelated.
Detective Senior Constable Hageman said a number of arrests over the past five months had netted “low-level” dealers.
“Particularly in the last four of five months, we’ve been actively targeting local drug traffickers, specifically in relation to methamphetamine [ice],” he said.
“We’ve been fairly active and we have a number of ongoing investigations and more operations.”
Melton police are working on new strategies, to be rolled out next year, to combat the growing problem.
“Ice is a problem because it seems to have become socially acceptable to use it, particularly in certain circles,” Detective Senior Constable Hageman said.
“And that’s the big concern – people aren’t aware of how dangerous it is.”
He urged anyone with information about dealers or traffickers to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
