(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
With up to 200,000 Australians having used ice in the last year alone, Australia's law enforcement agencies are stepping up their efforts to tackle the drug.
A new campaign by New South Wales Police and Crime Stoppers is highlighting the role members of the public can play in helping police shut down drug makers and arrest drug dealers.
Aileen Phillips reports.
(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full report)
The new print and online advertising campaign encourages people to call Crime Stoppers to report suspicious behaviour.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says there has been a 200 per cent increase in ice-related arrests in his state over the last two years.
The Commissioner says it's imperative people don't underestimate the positive impact an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers can have.
He cited one call three years ago that resulted in the successful seizure of a large quantity of the drug.
"If that one phone call had not have been made three years ago, and 585 kilograms of ice got onto the streets, do you reckon there would have been any health problems that flowed from that? If one person's life is saved, then this has all been worth it. And we know that this drug is killing people."
He also credits anonymous phone calls from members of the public as having played a critical role in helping to shut down and dismantle at least 250 clandestine laboratories.
He says those phone calls also contributed to seizing more than one and a half tonnes of methylamphetamine since the start of 2013.
New South Wales police say the campaign is only a small part in an overall strategy to combat supply, which is being driven by an ever increasing demand.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says it's a global problem.
"The drugs that are used to make ice, methalamphetamine, the precursers come from overseas. Clearly there are lots and lots of drugs coming into the country. You saw the nation's biggest siezure here in New South Wales about 18 months ago I think it was where there was tonnes of base products seized and something like a quarter of a ton I think of prepared ice - it may have even been more. So, we have got a supply problem, that is only driven by demand, and that demand is one that we are seeing not just in New South Wales or across Australia, it's global."
Ice is known to be highly addictive, destructive and dangerous and has devastated individuals, families and communities.
Andrew Scipione says the consequences of its use are tragic.
"Right now in Australia there are thousands and thousands of families that have to deal with that. It is not just a statistic, it is not just a number, there are human lives that are being torn apart because - I'll choose my words carefully - some grub out there is selling this drug and pushing it down the throats of young people who are easily caught up in that web and they get addicted very easily."
Troy Grant is the New South Wales Police Minister.
He says it is a crude, ugly, cheap and nasty drug that does not discriminate.
"Manufacture of it can happen in the back of a panel van, it is mobile, it is not always in a sophisticated lab. It is in rundown crappy sheds, it is in rundown houses. It is in sophisticated houses. It is amazing where this thing can be manufactured."
Members of the public are being reassured they do not need to disclose their name or location when calling Crime Stoppers.
New South Wales Police Minister Troy Grant says if you see something, say something.
"This campaign is not targeted at the users, this is targeted at community. Asking community when they see or spot something that is untoward or they suspect something, please ring. Make that one phone call."
The campaign launch comes as a Brisbane man and woman have been charged with more than 150 drug offences relating to the supply and trafficking of ice.
It also coincides with the head of the National Ice Taskforce leading a community consultation session in the Victorian town of Mildura.
The session aims to discuss ways the local community is dealing with the impact of the drug, including a consortium educating the community about the dangers of crystal methamphetamine.
Mildura is the only Victorian town that is part of the nationwide consultations.
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