And one of Victoria’s top highway patrol officers joined him by slamming Ballarat drivers for dangerous drug driving.

Ballarat’s Superintendent Andrew Allen said drivers caught on ice showed a complete disregard for others on the road, while Victoria Police State Highway Patrol Inspector Simon Humphrey said the 15 positive drug tests in Ballarat on Saturday night alone showed the extent of ice use within the community. 

“These were local people (caught) in their local area,” Inspector Humphrey said. 

“We’re very concerned they’re driving while drug impaired.” 

When will ice and other drug users get it that drug-driving is just as dangerous as driving while under the influence of alcohol? Do they not understand that with new drug-testing equipment they will get caught? It won’t be a matter of if, but when.

Just like alcohol, ice and other drugs are addictive and it is an addiction which is quick to form, but hard to break.

And warning the excessive number of drug-drivers caught will result in a heavier police presence in the region should go some way to deterring those who continue to flout the law.

With the escalating drug problem in Ballarat, there is no alternative other than to get tougher on the offenders. Maybe tougher prisoner sentences could also go a long way to getting these dangerous and irresponsible people off our streets.

Because the current softer approach doesn’t seem to be working.

Just like guns and knives, cars are a lethal weapon. They can - and do - kill, thanks to those sitting behind the wheel.

And they won’t kill only those drug-affected drivers behind the wheel ... it will be some innocent family travelling home from a birthday party, or an elderly pedestrian crossing the road.

Before getting into the driver’s seat of these lethal weapons, those drug and alcohol-affected drivers need to think about their own families.

What if it was their child, their husband or wife, their mother or father who was killed at the hands of a drugged-up driver?