Crystal meth use has reached crisis point, warns police and health professionals in New South Wales this week. The amphetamine, called ‘P' in New Zealand, has been popular with gay partygoers but is now also used by people on a day-to-day basis as a stimulant, says a hospital director. New South Wales police commissioner Ken Moroney says the crystal epidemic was the biggest challenge facing NSW police he had ever seen, and that the drug could be linked to a majority of violence and robbery offences. “I don't know, in all the time I've been a policeman, which is 41 years, of a greater scourge on the community,” he told The Australian. “The physical and mental manifestations of this drug are absolutely horrific. It has the potential to destroy generations.” Moroney had visited the ward at St Vincent's Hospital for patients having crystal-related psychotic episodes and said, “It's just frightening, it's just absolutely frightening.” Rebecca McKetin, senior research fellow at National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, said smoking crystal was popular in the gay and lesbian community and that those who smoked it were less likely to seek professional treatment than those who injected it. This was possibly because they didn't consider crystal a “hard drug” or because their usage was too new for serious adverse effects to start showing, McKetin said. Director of emergency services at St Vincent's Hospital, Dr Gordian Fulde, told Sydney Star Observer crystal was “arguably one of the biggest problems of drug use that our society has seen”. He said there had been an “astronomical increase” in the number of crystal users at the hospital. “But it's not just St Vincent's. It's in country towns, it's all through society. It's not just an inner-city thing, it's everywhere,” Fulde said. “There are people running around in their daily job who are using this stuff as a support, and it will drive them mad and violent. That's the problem.” Fulde believed crystal use could cause permanent brain damage and said the epidemic would only get better when governments and communities became aware of its dangers. “The only reason it will get better in the end will be because there will be some very heinous violent crimes. Societies in other countries haven't really paid much attention to people going mad, but when it becomes a factor in violence and murders in other countries, that's when society sits up and says it's unacceptable.” Last week the NSW government launched a “club drugs” campaign warning young people about the dangers of drug use, including crystal. A spokesperson for health minister John Hatzistergos said more crystal campaigns were planned for the future but could not give any details on them. The AIDS Council of New South Wales last week launched the resource Crystal: Reducing And Quitting, and the organisation was about to start another round of public forums on the drug. Clayton said ACON was working “on a more comprehensive response around crystal”, and that a priority was supporting and skilling-up friends and family of crystal users. Clinics to treat crystal meth users will be opened in Sydney and Newcastle, NSW health minister John Hatzistergos has announced. The new clinics would cost $600,000 and improve coordination between drug and alcohol services and mental health services, as well as providing peer support, education programs and referral services, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Ref: Sydney Star Observer (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Saturday, 30th September 2006 - 12:00pm