The ice taskforce’s report sends a clear message about the importance of focusing on drug use as a health issue. This signals an important shift in thinking.
Evidence-based drug treatments are relatively successful at reducing use and improving quality of life.
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The challenge is to intervene before users hit crisis point. A Hawaii-based program does just this and has achieved substantial reductions in drug use. A similar scheme could work in Australia.
The Prime Minister said ice was more dangerous than any other illegal drug.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said ice is far more potent, far more dangerous, and far more addictive than any other illegal drug. Is that supported by the data?
These mixed messages reflect a longstanding tension in public policy and legal debates about drug use.
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There is no evidence to suggest mandatory treatment outside of the criminal justice system would work. Instead, we need to increase funding for treatment programs, including early intervention.
Gathering data at the calving front of the Ilulissat Glacier, Greenland.
Denise Holland
To create accurate models that predict how ice sheets and oceans will react to changing climate, modelers need precise current data. One researcher heads to the ends of the earth to collect just that.
Are authorities too focused on the usual suspects and missing the new and emerging markets in organised crime?
AAP/Adam Marsters
Today’s organised crime occurs through loose and undefined networks made up of criminal entrepreneurs and freelancers with little concern for group branding or loyalty.
Forms of methamphetamines that can be smoked or injected have greater risks.
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Much media attention is being given to the rising toll of methamphetamine-related harm in Australia, fuelled by the increased availability and use of high purity crystalline meth.
Could random testing put a dent in the drug market?
AAP Image/NSW Police, file
Bitter battles about money hang heavily over the Council of Australian Governments meeting, though Tony Abbott wants it to concentrate on the less divisive topics.
Only a small proportion of Australians who use methamphetamines fall into a category of dependent users.
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There is no doubt methamphetamine can cause harm. But when politicians hijack drug issues and overplay them for political purposes, that too can cause harm.
The number of people who use methamphetamine has not changed in at least the last ten years.
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Prime Minister Tony Abbott today launched a taskforce to tackle the growing problem of ice. But while Australia certainly has a problem with ice, it’s hardly an epidemic.
Methylamphetamine, in particular crystal meth or ‘ice’, has been the subject of much scrutiny in Australia in recent times.
AAP/David Crosling
How does the ACC report help inform the debate around methylamphetamine, and what practical lessons can Australian society and law enforcement draw from it?
For several years now climatologists have puzzled over an apparent conundrum: why is Antarctic sea ice continuing to expand, albeit at the relatively slow rate of about one to two percent per decade, while…
Rates of ice use remain stable.
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Looking at recent news headlines, you’d be forgiven for thinking Australia was being overrun with methamphetamine, with reports of skyrocketing use. The focus is largely on crystal meth, also known as…
The market for the drug is controlled by criminals recruiting dependent users to act as their agents, who recruit yet more users to keep feeding their addiction.
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Recent news of former NSW premier’s daughter Harriet Wran being charged with murder is another illustration of Australia’s growing problem with the drug ice. Wran, who is said to have been battling an…
After long periods of regular use, changes to the dopamine system can mean users appear flat and unmotivated.
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If you’ve listened to the news lately, you might think that Australia is overrun with uncontrollably violent people on crystal methamphetamine. This may be true of those in crisis, but the bigger picture…