The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s drug and alcohol survey showed about 13 per cent of Australians are smoking daily, compared to 15 per cent three years ago.

The study also found fewer young people are drinking alcohol, with the abstaining proportion rising from 64 per cent to 72 per cent in the past three years.

However, the use of crystal methamphetamine, or ice, has more than doubled in the past three years. 

The misuse of pharmaceuticals also rose, increasing from 4.2 per cent in 2010 to 4.7 per cent in 2013.

And Ballarat has the dubious honour of having a high rate of ice use.

It was revealed in a special report by The Courier only last month that children as young as 10 were abusing ice and the drug was driving crime in the city.

Add to the mix the fact that desperate drug and alcohol users are travelling hundreds of kilometres for withdrawal treatment; because there is only one bed to service the whole Grampians region – an area which covers from Bacchus Marsh to the South Australian border – and it is located at the Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital.

This scourge on the Ballarat community needs to be addressed ... and now.

Why is it that so much money can be poured into anti-smoking and anti-drinking campaigns, yet drug use, in particular ice, seems to receive significantly less attention?

Surely, with disturbing figures showing children as young as 10 are seeking treatment for ice abuse in Ballarat, those who hold the purse strings should be listening to these cries for help.

These 10-year-olds should be playing with their dolls, kicking the footy and just being kids, not looking to score their next hit.

These 10-year-olds are the next generation of Australians, the future leaders of our communities, the future parents of our grandchildren. 

What hope does the next few generations have if they are hooked on ice?

Yes, smoking and excessive drinking are issues which, and are, being addressed. 

But those with authority should be looking at nipping this epidemic in the bud, before more lives are 

lost.