COMBATING Bendigo's ice problem requires an inter-agency response, says Sergeant Mick Peckham from the Central Victorian Response Unit.
"We've certainly been involved with a number of other agencies in relation to a plan of attack on the ice epidemic which is around (the region)," he said.
"The hospitals will have an approach, the police will have an approach, any interested stakeholder will do their utmost to try and tackle this issue.
"Certainly, as far as the police go, we have a number of operations surrounding the ice issue, that involves targeting and investigating people who manufacture, traffic, possess and use the drug.
"That's basically our involvement here at the Central Victorian Response Unit."
Acting Sergeant Kevyn Hume-Cook told the Bendigo Advertiser the Don't Drive Impaired operation had caught seven drug drivers during the Easter weekend and five since Wednesday.
"The most predominant drug we're finding is methamphetamine, or ice," he said.
Police intercepted a 25-year-old Golden Square man on Wednesday and a 42-year-old Maryborough man on Thursday who both tested positive for ice.
A 29-year-old Mitcham man tested positive for ice and cannabis after being intercepted in Bendigo on Friday, and a 30-year-old Eaglehawk man tested positive for methamphetamine in California Gully two hours later.
But Sergeant Peckham said Bendigo's ice problem was no better or worse than anywhere else in the state.
"Being part of the Central Victorian Response Unit I can see that Bendigo certainly has an issue with it," he said.
"But I think that's fair to say for most of the state.
"We do drug investigations and anyone who is involved in the manufacturing, trafficking, possession and use of that drug, it's our intention to track them down and bring them before the courts.
"As well as that, police are also concerned in relation to those people that are driving around our streets while affected by this drug. There are a lot of traffic operations centered around that."
