There are not enough detox services in place to help methamphetamine users quit the drug, the Western Australian Government has said.
“The most urgent need a family has is for someone to get detox, and so we have three specialist detox services across the state at the moment,” Mental Health Minister Helen Morton said.
“I don’t believe that’s enough.
“I believe we need to make sure all of our general hospitals are able to provide medical detox services.
“I think we need to increase the availability of detox services and I’ll be talking to the Director-General [Dr David Russell-Weisz] about expanding those services immediately.”
But the State Opposition said the services should have been put in place a long time ago.
Western Australia has the highest ice use in the nation, according to the 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey.
About 3.8 per cent of the state’s population aged over 14 admit to using the drug. The national average is 2.1 per cent.
A woman who said she was the mother of a meth addict, Carol, told 720 ABC Perth more treatment options were needed.
“I helped [my son] contact five different drug and alcohol support agencies around Perth when he wanted to help detox,” she said.
“He was coming off the drug, he couldn’t stand up, he needed help.
“All of these agencies said it would take two weeks just to get and appointment, let alone treatment, three months to get into rehab, even in-home detox.”
Wastewater meth testing ‘not telling us anything we don’t know’
The comments came as the State Government revealed plans to test the metropolitan wastewater for traces of methamphetamine, in what Police Minister Liza Harvey said was a bid to measure how big the problem is.
The tests will happen at three wastewater plants, taking in about 1.8 million people.
WA Opposition Leader Mark McGowan branded the move an expensive waste of time, and said the extent of the problem was already known.
“We know there is a major problem out there in the community, testing sewage is not going to tell us anything we don’t already know,” he said.
“We have double the national average use of methamphetamines in Western Australia and the best the [Police] Minister can come out with today is testing sewage, give me a break.”
Ms Harvey and Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan yesterday announced dedicated “meth teams” that would target supply routes into the state, along with drug dealers.
Ms Morton has also pledged more than $1 million to be spent over the next three years on education and awareness campaigns, but said the money was already budgeted for.