There seems to be a lot of people out there that are not aware of the drug problem in society these days so I will give you a short story on our life living with an addict.
Firstly you need to identify the problem then you will notice that your child - and I will call them that as most are under 20 - you will notice they have mood swings and be very argumentative about the smallest of things.
They will lose a lot of weight and probably tell you that they are going to the gym.
If they move out of home they will always be partying - you may then notice that your normal light globes in your house are starting to go astray or you are asked to buy globes for them as the light bulbs have blown in their rental and “could you just buy a couple while you are shopping.”
The reason for this is they are using the globes to heat up the ice, not to use as a light bulb.
Then you may try to reason with them and think you are getting somewhere but they just becoming more cunning and hide it from you.
They are more than likely to turn to crime to pay for this habit - you may then have people telling you stories about your child, stories that you don’t want to hear.
You will probably see signs of rashes, rolling of the jaw and always scratching or pulling at their hair along with the arguments and shouting.
You may then try counselling - this may be good for them but because it is private and confidential you are completely in the dark about what is happening in their lives.
The law needs to change there.
Next you get all this advice from all sorts of friends about what would be good for your child and what they would do in your situation.
Send them to rehab, what a great idea...
You think this will sort out what is going on, you send them to rehab and guess what, there is another 50 addicts in there all trying to get off the gear.
But alas, all they do is find more avenues to get drugs as it is a big network.
We tried hard love and we were always told that they need to hit rock bottom before anything will change but how do you know where rock bottom is? You don’t.
Don’t get me wrong, it may work for some.
But you are always told that your child may relapse which is more likely to happen than not.
And it did - back with the same old friends they were hanging around with before and you’re back to square one.
We tried hard love and we were always told that they need to hit rock bottom before anything will change but how do you know where rock bottom is? You don’t.
Thankfully we have beaten it at the moment and I say “moment” because it has only been eight months, fingers crossed.
So I say to people that can make positive steps in resolving this big problem, don’t sit on your hands as there are plenty of people out there that need help.
It would have been good if we could have spoken to parents that have been through this but once again Bunbury does not have this and the nearest drug counselling centre was Dunsborough.
I don’t know if the politicians are the people to be trying to change things as you would think if it was that easy Mick Murray would have already done something.
They are parents as well and probably searching for answers, as we are.
Anthony, South Bunbury.
If you are interested in learning more about a local support group for parents and families of ice addicts, email Vicki.Riggio@aph.gov.au
