Figures released this week have shown that methamphetamine and ice users are six times more likely to die, although a local expert said that opiates are by far the biggest killer of drug users in the north west.
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As NSW Labor called for a statewide bi-partisan drug summit to address the ever-growing ice epidemic in regional Australia, Staff Specialist for Drug and Alcohol at Tamworth Hospital, Dr Michael Campbell-Smith said that it is prescription opiates that are causing the most deaths in the region.
“While ice is apparently a major problem I haven’t seen much of a change over the last five years,” Dr Campbell-Smith said.
“Most of our problems still come from alcohol, but the most deaths are from re-distributed prescription opiates – mainly fentanyl – we are constantly seeing that through inadvertent or accidental overdoses.
“In Moree recently there were five deaths in six months from Fentanyl, and it is a problem pretty much everywhere.”
On Monday NSW Shadow Minister for Health Walt Secord called for action, asking for a repeat of the historic 1999 drug summit that focussed on heroin, except this time he wants the focus shifted to ice.
"It has been 18 years since the original historic drug summit and the drug landscape is dramatically different,” Mr Secord said.
"We should bring together drug experts, family members, health workers, researchers, police, judges and politicians to hold another drug summit - in the spirit of goodwill - to look at new approaches."
While Mr Secord said that “ice has overtaken heroin”, Dr Campbell-Smith believes that might not strictly be true.
Prescription opiates have already had a devastating effect on the USA, and the local expert is calling for “stricter control on dispensing” to help curb the problem, while also saying that the deep rooted drug culture is difficult to stop.
“Taking drugs is part of the human condition – we have been doing it in some way or another for hundreds of years,” he said.
“It’s easy to say more needs to be done, but it is hard to know what works. We can always do more research but it is the results that count.”
The local clinician did however say that ice and methamphetamine users are likely a much bigger problem for front line services.
“Meth is very destructive and addictive, but we don’t get as many referrals because many users don’t feel they need help,” he said.
“Anyone who uses enough meth will have problems, and will suffer a psychosis.”
