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PROGRAMS tackling the scourge of ice are ramping up in Bendigo’s sporting community, as data from the Coroners Court reveals a spike in drug-related deaths.
Sports Focus, Bendigo Community Health Services and the Victorian AIDS Council were among 13 Victorian community groups announced as recipients of Community Ice Action Grants.
The $125,000 funding boost forms part of the third stage of the state’s $180 million Ice Action Plan.
Sports Focus business manager Stuart Craig said the money would play a significant role in expanding its Clubs Taking Control program.
The initiative helps keep members of the sporting community informed about issues surrounding drug abuse and responsible behaviour to avoid drug abuse.
For the past two years, the message has been spreading through the region’s football and netball clubs.
With the state government’s support, Mr Craig said the program would extend to cricket clubs.
“We’ve never shied away from the fight when it comes to preserving the integrity of sport, and we don’t intend to walk away from this one,” he said.
He said the initial information sessions had revealed a prevalence of methamphetamine use within the sporting sector.
“Sporting clubs have primarily a reflection of the local community and often the glue that holds the community together,” Mr Craig said.
“As such, we are determined to provide information and education around potential methamphetamine use by members of the community.”
Minister for Mental Health Martin Foley’s funding announcement came as a report exposed a 45 per cent increase in drug-related deaths in regional Victoria in the past seven years.
“They are alarming statistics, and obviously something needs to be done about it,” Mr Craig said.
Bendigo District Cricket Association junior coordinator Tony Ryan said the grant was a “great step forward”.
He believed the community was generally ill informed about crystal methamphetamine, or ice.
“You speak to any parent, any child – they have no idea what the ramifications of ice use are,” Mr Ryan said.
“This grant is a real big step forward, more along the lines of education than anything.”
Mr Ryan said there was “tremendous fear” about the drug within the sporting and broader community.
“We see it first-hand in our sporting precincts around this district and the effects are insidious on families and on people alone,” he said.
He’s seen people become reclusive and withdraw from other people in their sporting environment as they struggled with substance abuse.
“They try to fight the battle themselves and that can be very severe because they keep on finding themselves in that circle of trying to overcome this by turning back to ice – that’s their only safety net,” Mr Ryan said.
“At least cricket is on board now and we can push forward in trying to get on top of this terrible thing.”
BCHS will also use the funds to help educate the community, through a program called All Time High.
VAC will channel the funds into a program addressing the disproportionate proportion of LGBTI people suffering from drug and alcohol abuse.
“We know there is no single solution to stop ice,” Mr Foley said.