WHEN a person is arrested for drug-related offences, the details often go unreported to respect the court process, but they are the details high school students learned during the Rotary Club of Orange Calare’s forum on ice yesterday.
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As someone who regularly comes into contact with stories of this kind, those details shocked me most, hearing that one man was found on a neighbour’s doorstep swinging a chair at lions only he could see, the fact that multiple frontline agencies have to respond to an ice-related case due to the danger they pose, and the fact that permission sometimes needs to be sought to administer extra medication in extreme cases.
The sad reality is the resulting seizures, strokes and heart attacks can send some of those patients to a nursing home or the grave, and the toll witnessing patients in that state has taken on frontline staff was evident in their stories.
Images of addicts scratching sores into their skin to be rid of ‘meth mites’, ‘meth mouth’ caused by a combination of dry mouth and teeth grinding, and images of people before and after addiction gained some of the largest reactions, especially when the audience was informed the ‘meth mouth’ image was not the worst-case scenario because the person still had some teeth left.
Adding the effects of ice together, as presented at the forum, it was impossible to see why anyone would take it up, until the presenters explained how easy it was to become involved.
Ice causes the brain’s dopamine levels to soar six times higher than the feeling of eating a good meal and four times higher than a cocaine hit.
At 64 per cent purity in 2013, it is now much purer than it was in 2009, at 21 per cent.
Together with a crash capable of quashing the user’s ability to take their dog for a walk or make breakfast, it became clear why it would be hard to stop, and the forum’s core message of avoiding it completely took on extra significance.
Rotary Club of Orange Calare president Paul Cox’s message was for students to rehearse their response in the event they were offered ice and I will certainly give some thought to mine.
danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au