TAMWORTH member Kevin Anderson says “it’s like trying to push an elephant” making progress with his ice action group.
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This was the group’s third meeting since its inception in January, when Deputy Premier Troy Grant tasked Mr Anderson with chairing a committee to nut out realistic goals toward breaking the scourge of methamphetamine use in the community.
Six weeks ago, the group identified the need for a central call service to direct people to local organisations capable of helping users and families, which was again highlighted as a key outcome at their most recent get-together.
Mr Anderson said the group wanted to streamline services and would continue discussions with an “organisation in Tamworth that does it now for domestic violence” to potentially expand capabilities to drug and alcohol services.
“We want to have a streamlined service for someone who is in need,” he said.
Mr Anderson was previously critical of the statewide Australian Drug Information Service (ADIS), labelling it as “not adequate”.
To date, the group has outlined a number of desired outcomes, including a memorandum of understanding between local services on what they could offer, and a youth expo convened by Oxley Superintendent Clint Pheeney.
Mr Anderson said some progress had been made in these particular initiatives and he believed users and families had been helped by the group.
“Because what it’s done, it’s brought it more to the surface – this particular issue has a stigma wrapped around it,” he said.
“There are many families who are suffering as a result of ice affecting their families who don’t talk about it.
“What we’ve been able to do behind the scenes is open up those networks.”
Community anti-ice activist Tracey Filicietti has seen her son deal with an ice addiction and believed the group was making progress.
“We’ve had a really positive outcome today, with building resilient youths, education and just moving forward, getting these kids to learn what drugs are all about,” she said.
Ms Filicietti said more “support and awareness” would be crucial as the group progresses.
“I recently rang a few support people with the objective to see what they could offer,” she said.
“ADIS failed miserably. They couldn’t help me – apparently our base hospital is 113km away.
“I would like to see it succeed, because I’ve been through this with my son and I don’t want to see other families go through it.”
