To read that amphetamine use in the New England North West is virtually out of control is a wake-up call.

It comes on the back of stories appearing in other northern newspapers with headlines such as Deadly Ice Age and details of a 15-year-old being involved in an ice-dealing ring in our region. It is frightening, and it will get worse. 

The Australian Crime Commission is so concerned it has released a detailed report titled The Australian Methylamphetamine Market, and it is compulsive reading for every adult Australian.

Serious and organised crime gangs are now controlling the bulk of the nation’s illicit drug market.

The violent, inhuman Mexican drug trafficking cartels are becoming increasingly involved in the global meth market and are seeking international criminal partners in Australia.

We are now a lucrative market because the average street price per gram in Australia is USD$500, almost ten times the price in China for example. The same Mexican groups are already selling cocaine into this country.

Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs were involved in drug distribution in the Mildura region. But as the report points out, the psychological, medical and social consequences of meth use are devastating to the user and the community.

Memory loss, psychosis, euphoria, aggression, violence, heart failure, stroke – these are often the legacy of this drug. And their families and frontline emergency and medical personnel suffer the brunt of it.

I don’t have the answer to stop this curse, neither does government alone.

But as a father and grandfather I will be vigilant and keep my eyes open to any suspicious activity and report it to the police. I hope you do too.

Do not criticise the police if they don’t act straight away – as we know a little piece of information fits into a bigger puzzle.

Taking a user or dealer off the streets is painting over the cracks – it’s the distribution chain that has to be broken. Cut off the snake’s head, not its tail.

Remember the words of Armidale youth worker Tennyson Strong: “It’s about leaders standing up and saying no. I’m sick of sitting back and watching it happen before my eyes. It’s killing people”