Opinion: Ice - a harmless name for a deadly drug
Thursday March 5 2015, 8:10am
In response to the recent articles – headlined in The Gazette and reported on in The Newsport – I thought there existed a need in the community to discuss, rather than explain, what is meant by the term “Ice’.
Put simply, ‘Ice’ is a methamphetamine, part of the amphetamine family of drugs which also includes base and speed. The difference between ice, base and speed is that ice is the most pure form, followed by base then speed. The 'high' experienced from ice and base is much more intense, and with intense reactions come powerful responses including comedown, the potential for dependence (addiction) and chronic physical and mental problems.
Ice is known as a variety of other names, including: crystal meth, meth, crystal.
Now, you’ll note that all the names – and there are plenty of others – used to describe this dangerous drug, are ‘attractive’, or run-of-the-mill names and words. Perhaps that needs to change in order to bring about a change in attitude to the misuse of this drug. You know, like we now call the king hit the ‘coward’s punch’ to convey to the individual, through the community, that it’s not smart or brave to punch someone from the rear without warning or reason.
In my day – and I’ll admit to being on the wrong side of 60!! – the drugs of choice were cigarettes, and, if you were game enough, alcohol. Later in life, around the age of 40, at a High School Reunion, I learnt that cannabis use – weed, dope, marijuana, joints, reefers, roaches – was also used by a few of the ‘in’ crowd, even at parties that I attended but had no idea what people were smoking!
Now, 45 years after I left High School, the drugs of choice seem to (still) include dope (a perfect alternative name in my book), speed and ice. Whether or not ice is being sold, supplied, traded or whatever at a High School in our area, parents and care givers can be sure of one thing – ice IS the drug of choice for some youth in the Douglas Shire. It’s easy to pass on from one person to another; easy to conceal from mum and dad; and it even has a nice name – the same as the stuff we put in our (legal) scotch and brandy, and which we use to keep our beer cold!
I recalled, reading the articles recently, an article I read a few years ago, when ice was first (apparently) breaking onto the scene in Sydney. The story revolved around the use of ice amongst teenagers and young adults. It particularly spoke to the notion that the use of ice drastically heightened sexual urges, at the same time drastically reducing the ability of the user to discern safe sexual behaviour. So, you had 14 year old girls being treated in hospital after being involved in multiple-partner sex, and men being admitted because they couldn’t control their sexual urges – either privately or publicly.
The result, the treating doctors said, was that these young folk faced a higher risk of sexually-transmitted disease, or unwanted pregnancy, with little or no knowledge of with whom they had been intimate. The long-term use of ice is well-documented – the need for more to satisfy the cravings; the need for more-frequent use to achieve the state-of-mind or ‘rush’ that ice brings about; the need for cash to ensure supply and the anti-social behaviours that such an addiction causes – crime including robberies and break-ins to fund the habit; prostitution to raise money for drugs or to pay back ‘loans’; poor health outcomes, including abnormal weight-loss, and decay of teeth and gums.
Now the question always raises its head – “Is the abuse (or indeed ‘use’) of illicit drugs a health problem or a legal one?”
Well, this has been well-canvassed over the years, and has led to the State-monitored (read: legalisation) of cannabis, for example, firstly in Colorado, US., and since in a number of other of the United States. Despite the “world’s coming to an end” screams of the right-wingers, there has not been any noticeable increase in drug-related crime in Colorado in the 15 months since dope was available over the counter – and the State Govt is reaping the ‘reward’ – if it can be so termed – from both licences issued to traders and the taxes payable on the sale of weed.
Despite the billions – yes, multiple billions of dollars spent by law enforcement agencies, both in Australia and, for example, in the US, use of illicit drugs has not been curtailed, and is likely to be on the increase. The question parents, Police, medicos and Governments need to ask – then to find the answer to – is “Why?” And the answer, at least in part, can be found right in your fridge and on your living room or verandah table – our kids see us drinking and sometimes abusing alcohol; our kids see us smoking cigarettes (and, even in the beauty of the Douglas region, butting their fags on the ground or in the gutter) and wonder “If it’s good enough for them, then why not me?”
Several Police Forces in Australia have a policy where an overdose is reported, to assist the victim (in cohort with ambulance paramedics) and to forgo what would normally be a search of the premises to find drugs. It’s a wise policy, as it encourages young folk to report overdoses or bad reaction to drugs early, without fear of reprisal from the authorities.
Is it a health/medical problem? Is it a law enforcement problem?
I tend to think the former, mostly because the billions spent in enforcing, detecting, prosecuting and gaoling ‘offenders’ has had no measurable effect on drug use.
One thing you CAN be sure of – if ICE is available in Australia, then, like speed, heroin, LSD and cannabis, you can be sure that ICE will be available in the Douglas Shire.
W. (Will) B. Devlin
In nature's infinite book of secrecy
A little I can read.
— William Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra (1606-7), I, ii.
Other pieces by Will Devlin:
- <link opinion-how-to-turn-a-first-world-probl.12311.0.html external-link-new-window external link in new>How to turn a First World Problem into a solution for the less fortunate
