Maribyrnong police have welcomed the state government’s $45 million plan to tackle the “ice” epidemic.
Premier Daniel Andrews last week released Victoria’s Ice Action Plan, incorporating advice from its Ice Action Taskforce.
The government will spend $18 million on expanding drug treatment and rehabilitation, $4.5 million on cracking down on clandestine drug labs; $4.7 million on helping identify and manage ice users; and $1 million on frontline workers at risk of getting attacked.
The government says it will introduce tougher laws to target dealers and manufacturers.
A further $15 million will be spent on new drug and booze buses and $500,000 on helping community groups tackle ice use.
The number of drug labs found in Victoria rose from 20 in 2003-04 to 113 in 2012-13, while Parliament’s 2014 inquiry into the supply and use of ice identified a sharp rise in the number of people in their 20s using the drug.
Star Weekly last year reported that using, possessing and trafficking of ice contributed to almost three-quarters of detected drug offences in Hobsons Bay and Maribyrnong.
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Mr Andrews said ice was ruining lives, but the Ice Action Plan could stop the drug at the source.
“We’ll give users the treatment they need, families the support they deserve, and we’ll come down hard on the peddlers who put this substance on our streets.”
New laws will target people dealing ice to schoolchildren or near schools, publishing instructions on how to make ice, allowing premises to be used as a drug lab or forcing another person to deal ice. Victoria Police will increase use of treatment and diversion programs.
Maribyrnong’s Acting Inspector Michelle Young thinks the plan will be well received.
“The government initiative demonstrates how a collaborative response … will contribute to increasing community awareness and education relating to the harmful impact of ice. Hopefully, it will also contribute to decreasing ice and its ramifications in our communities.”
Shadow mental health minister Tim Bull said the fight against ice had bipartisan support, but the government had slashed millions of dollars from programs tackling the problem.
“Daniel Andrews ripped nearly $3 million from community education forums on ice and shut down a $2 million community grants program,” Mr Bull said.
