Three people are still fighting for life at The Alfred hospital after using ice laced with weed killer. Source: Supplied
ICE users are suffering heart attacks, strokes and brain damage from overdoses.
And chemicals with which the drug has been cut are also having catastrophic effects, police and doctors warn.
Three patients, aged 21 to 26, are in a critical condition in The Alfred hospital, fighting for life, after suffering severe respiratory failure from using ice cut with weedkiller.
The Alfred drug and alcohol physician Dr Benny Monheit said the catastrophic consequences of ice use had grown with the sheer numbers using methamphetamine.
“They don’t die like they do from heroin or alcohol, where you’ve had so much of it that it stops the breathing,” Dr Monheit said.
“Ice can cause sudden onset (conditions) such as a stroke or they can have heart attacks, and people die from that.
“It also causes abnormalities to the heart rhythm that can lead to sudden death.
“And, because blood pressure is increasing, some vulnerable people have strokes.
“The evidence is accumulating that it does cause some permanent brain damage … particularly the bit involved in decision-making and high levels of thinking,” he said.
‘DODGY BATCH’ OF ICE LEAVES USERS FIGHTING FOR LIFE
Victoria Police said household chemicals such as drain cleaner, caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, methylated spirits and other solvents were used by ice manufacturers.
“It is a timely reminder for anyone who believes there is a ‘good batch’ or ‘bad batch’ of any drug to think again, and remember that you gamble with your life every time you use an illegal substance,” a police spokesman said.
Adding to the danger, about one in four people treated for overdoses refuses to tell paramedics what they have taken.
“There are some substances where it is useful to know what they’ve taken, because it may prevent you giving them something that may harm them,” Ambulance Victoria Gippsland regional manager Mick Stephenson said.
“If people tell us what they have taken, that information will never be disclosed to anyone other than the doctors and nurses. If somebody has overdosed on something, calling us does not mean calling the police,” he said.
“What it does mean is that we will respond, treat you, take you to hospital and get you sorted out,” he said.
Originally published as Ice a lethal risk to heart and brain