THE Tamworth ice action group has been dissolved.
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The group, formerly chaired by Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson, hasn’t met since April when 800 year 9 nine students were given a lecture on the drug at an inaugural forum at TRECC.
The Leader understands Mr Anderson has stepped down from his role chairing the committee and the group has been dissolved.
“The last thing was the ice awareness forum for year 9 students in April,” she said.
“Nothing has happened since the event, there was no debrief, no nothing.”
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While the group has been decommissioned, Mrs Filicietti said it achieved what it needed to.
“It made the agencies fully aware of what is needed,” she said.
Mrs Filicietti is an active member of the Tamworth Community Drug Action Team (CDAT), which hosts monthly meetings at the Coledale clinic.
The CDAT is meeting on November 16 and Mrs Filicietti encouraged more community members to attend and get involved.
“The community needs to take it on, we need to get rid of the stigma, everybody knows someone that uses drugs,” she said.
She wants the CDAT to takeover the students’ forum and ensure the session continues to run in to the future.
The Tamworth mother saw her son battle drug and alcohol addiction and said more services were needed in town.
She welcomed the new day-rehab service, but she still wants to see a residential facility established.
Mr Anderson confirmed he had stepped down as a chair of the group and said it was always the plan to eventually hand the group over to the community.
“It was the start of the process to pull groups together and discuss how we can deal with ice and other drugs, because they were operating in silos” he said.
“It was always the case to transition it to the community.”
The Ice Action Group was formed after a roundtable meeting in January, 2016, which attracted then-Deputy Premier Troy Grant and NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Geoff McKechnie to Tamworth.
Mr Anderson said the group had runs on the board when it came to “raising awareness” and building education and support in the community.