Drug-fuelled violence against emergency services and community workers has prompted calls for greater action to tackle the growing ice epidemic.
Footscray based youth worker Les Twentyman said the state government must do more to protect frontline workers such as police, paramedics and youth workers from the dangers of violence from ice users.
He wants outreach workers to receive more training and for secure drug rehabilitation clinics.
“There is a hidden victim in this and that is the young kids who are subjected to ice-affected parents,” he said.
“It’s just a massive cost to everyone. The other things is there’s no treatment, we get about three calls a day but we can’t send them anywhere for treatment.”
Meeting with Twentyman in Footscray last week, Ambulance Employees general secretary Steve McGhie said the problem has been underestimated and more outreach workers need to get into schools to educate about the drug’s dangers.
“Once ice takes over an individual, these people on ice have no idea what they’re doing, they’re completely off their face, they get very aggressive, very strong, they become so dangerous, they become so irrational,” he said.
“We have to start getting on top of this epidemic because if we don’t it will take over local communities, in particular our youth, then we’re going to be in desperate trouble in the future.”
Paramedic Danny Hill said ice users tend to be surging with adrenaline and often looking for a fight.
“They will see paramedics or police as being authority and they just want to take them on. They’ve got no fear of repercussions, no fear of being hurt and they can be very very strong.”
He said many paramedics now won’t arrive at a call-out until they are sure enough police will be there to guarantee safety.
“Ice has certainly taken over where I work in Werribee, it has become more of a problem than heroin or marijuana were in the past,” he said.
“There is no way we can do our job safely while people are so fired up and aggressive while they’re on ice.”
Footscray, Sunshine, Braybrook, Werribee, Deer Park and St Albans were all identified as hot-spots, were users as young as 13 or 14 were being “captured” by ice.
“They just don’t realise just how bad it can grab hold of your life and change it quite quickly. We really need to try and understand the drug better, try and identify who is going to have a problem with it and try and education them earlier.”
Bruce McKenzie from The Police Association Victoria said younger people you wouldn’t normally expect to be involved in illicit drug taking are being attracted to ice.
“A new lot of people seem to be sucked into this terrible drug, that’s something a bit different about this drug to other drugs in the past like heroin.”
The calls come as two former docks workers face life imprisonment after being charged with importing more than 200 kilograms of methamphetamines into Melbourne in truck tyres.
An Altona Meadows man, 59, and Point Cook man, 29, were arrested by police on October 9 following raids on properties in Altona Meadows, Brooklyn, Point Cook and Hoppers Crossing, following a joint organised crime taskforce operation.
The men faced Melbourne Magistrates Court last Thursday and were remanded to return to court on January 29.
