IN ONE form or another, drug have been part of society for hundreds of years.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$1/
(min cost $8)
Login or signup to continue reading
But the latest scourge to hit our streets in recent years is ice.
It’s an insidious drug.
One that destroys lives, rips apart family and friends and has resulted in a massive spike in crime rates when addicts look to fund their next fix by stealing and robbing from the innocent.
It is a drug which not only puts a cost on our health and court systems, but also in the number of lives lost.
Ice knows no boundaries … not socio-economic, not age, nor sex, nor religion.
Ice is also one of the most addictive substances on the streets. Experts say one hit of the drug and you’re hooked.
So, an announcement today that a multi-million dollar mental health facility for the region – which will take in ice treatment – is long over due, but welcomed.
Announced by Attorney General Martin Pakula and Mental Health Minister Martin Foley, the $6 million development to be built close to Ballarat, will include an 18-20 bed mental health facility.
Funding for the facility falls under the $57.6 million second stage of the state government’s Ice Action Plan, which also includes:
- $5.5 million for further training and support to better equip frontline workers;
- $10 million to improve selected mental health, alcohol and other drug facilities to achieve greater therapeutic and safer environments for patients;
- $32 million expansion of the Drug Court of Victoria, and
- $4 million over four years for a pilot project to respond to ice in Aboriginal communities.
The second phase of the project builds on the Labor Government’s $45.5 million Ice Action Plan launched last year which addresses urgent issues to support families, provide treatment for users, protect frontline workers, close down drug manufacturers and make our community safer.
The state government will now work with the local health authority and the community on the location of the Ballarat region facility over the coming months.
This facility will go a long way to stamping out the ice scourge in our community. It will provide the much-needed facility which has been lacking in the region for far too long.
And it will give addicts, their families and the entire community hope that there is life after drugs.
