Bendigo Highway Patrol dispels ice myth as deaths spike

A NATIONAL study has found ice-related deaths have spiked in regional areas such as Bendigo, with researchers saying users are taking to the road thinking the drug will improve their driving.

The new paper, released on Monday, was informed by coronial records of 1649 ice-related deaths.

Almost half of these cases were in the country, and 156 users died at the wheel of a car or motorbike.

The yearly death toll linked to ice use in Australia doubled between 2009 and 2015, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre's Professor Shane Darke found.

He cited accessibility as a factor in the over-representation of ice use in regional areas.  

Ice was increasingly accessible in regional Victoria, the professor said, where many users smoked the substance through pipes instead of using needles.

Professor Darke said ice could be produced in the regions at increasingly high levels of purity, unlike heroin, which was usually imported from overseas and circulated in capital cities.

"There's a belief among methamphetamine users that methamphetamine improves your driving and reflexes, but what it does is improve your risk of death,” he said. 

“You're intoxicated, you’re not actually performing ... that overconfidence needs to be addressed.” 

Bendigo Highway Patrol Sergeant Geoff Annand said about one in eight of the 1500 drivers the unit tests for drugs each year returned positive results.

The numbers have been fairly consistent for the past three years.

Sergeant Annand said the tests were sensitive to amphetamines, cannabis, and ecstasy.

He dispelled the myth that taking ice would improve driving.

“It can lead to drivers being more erratic,” Sergeant Annand said. 

Professor Darke said erratic driving constituted the “typical” witness account of a road incident involving an ice-affected driver.

“They might be driving at 120km/h on the wrong side of the road, overtaking on blind corners," he said.

Of the 1649 coronial records Professor Darke reviewed, ice overdose was the most common cause of death, at 43 per cent, followed by heart disease at 22 per cent and suicide at 18 per cent.

He said ice had serious long term health implications relating to heart disease and stroke.

"With drugs like heroin, you're rolling the dice each time you use, but with a drug like methamphetamine you're causing progressive damage,” Professor Darke said.

Anyone seeking help for substance abuse can contact Bendigo Community Health Services on 5430 0500 or the Australian Community Support Organisation on 1300 022 760.