Young people are using ice and living on the streets in Canberra, with some so desperately addicted they resort to exploitation by older sex abusers to get their fix.

Key points: Most kids helped by a Canberra program, which uses a minibus to find young people struggling with drugs, are aged 14 or younger and are taking ice

Most kids helped by a Canberra program, which uses a minibus to find young people struggling with drugs, are aged 14 or younger and are taking ice Children in the program say ice is "much easier to get" than marijuana

Children in the program say ice is "much easier to get" than marijuana PCYC is working to transform a vandalised building into a refuge for the kids, but has called on the community to step up in the meantime

That is according to youth workers who describe crystal methamphetamine as "the new marijuana", and say about half the children in their outreach program who are below the age of 14 have used the drug.

Kids in the program, who cannot be named, admit ice is increasingly easy to find and is abundantly circulated among peers their age.

While there are scarce statistics of child drug use, frontline supporters are deeply concerned about what they call a rising tide of ice addiction facing Canberra's youth.

'It's ruined a few of my mates'

Canberra PCYC case manager Matthew James said there had been an alarming attitude shift towards the stimulant drug.

"Some of these kids accept it as a normal drug to use, whereas 18 months ago they would've been criticised by their mates for using ice and called a junkie," Mr James said.

"Now it's like 'the next thing'. It's the new weed — smoking ice is what they're doing."

One child taking part in PCYC's Intensive Diversion Program (IDP) said ice was even "much easier to get than pot".

"I've seen ice go around a lot, like, a fair bit. It's ruined a few of my mates," he said.

The case workers set out in a minibus to visit known "hot spots" of ice use across Canberra, such as interchanges, Civic, and abandoned or rundown buildings in the suburbs.

Mr James said they look for school-aged children who are often living on the streets, unlinked with support services and not going to school.

"They might be couch surfing, using drugs," he said.

The area around the Belconnen Bus Interchange is a known hotspot for younger ice users. ( ABC News: Tahlia Roy )

'They'll pretty much do anything'

This vulnerability, combined with the destructive and addictive nature of ice, left some kids resorting to horrific measures to get their next hit.

Mr James said children who could not fund their own drug habit — with many too young to work — were preyed upon by manipulative "drug dealers" who were in fact child sex predators.

"To feed their addiction, they'll go and sleep with these older males, to get free ice," Mr James said.

"They'll end up having to steal cars, they'll do break and enters, they'll do aggravated robberies …they pretty much will do anything to pay for the drugs."

Fighting the negative influence of those who want to harm disadvantaged children is one of the biggest fights facing PCYC case workers, and one that Mr James's colleague Rikki Lloyd described as "really scary".

"They'll make friends anywhere — they're looking for connection," Mr Lloyd said, adding there were "target houses" in Canberra where kids were known to regularly exchange sex acts for drugs.

PCYC executive manager Cheryl O'Donnell said middle-classed Canberrans were either oblivious or "turning a blind eye" to the issue.

"Everybody looks and goes, 'what happens outside my gate is none of my business'," she said.

PCYC case managers Rikki LLoyd (left) and Matthew James (right) are working to give disadvantaged kids better pathways ( ABC News: Tahlia Roy )

Program faces hurdles when '80 per cent' of kids on ice

The workers in the minibus first give immediate assistance to children they find, like food and links to child support services.

The service then moves to a PCYC centre in Fyshwick where they provide courses on subjects such as reading, physical education, domestic violence and anger management.

Mr James said "probably 80 per cent" of the program's last group were using ice, which made things difficult.

"When they're coming in they're not themselves. They'll be either really down and out or they'll be really perked up another day," he said.

"And if they're using with their mates, they'll try and sabotage themselves so they can get sent home and get back on the street."

But, despite some children ending up in the youth justice system before getting through the course, Mr James said most who were referred by police completed it.

One boy said it was life-changing.

"A lot of the mates that I was hanging out with have ended up in Bimberi [Youth Justice Centre] now, so I'm pretty glad that I've excluded myself from them," he said.

"Otherwise I probably would be in Bimberi myself."

But despite helping many in need, Ms O'Donnell said case workers could not keep up with demand.

The program faces a waiting list of 130 children.

Ms O'Donnell said there was a lack of rehabilitation and homelessness services for children in Canberra, which left many falling through the cracks.

That is why she is working to transform a languishing PCYC building in Canberra's inner north into a children's refuge, complete with education rooms and a social enterprise cafe.

"So that we're putting the kids through a trade, and giving them a safe space so that we can start working with them before they end up in detention," she said.

But it is a slow process.

Vandals and squatters had taken over the derelict site since it sustained water damage eight years ago, and the insurance payout will far from pay for the refuge.

PCYC wants to turn this damaged building into a refuge for children troubled by drug use. ( ABC News: Tahlia Roy )

While Ms O'Donnell was not about to give up on the dream refuge, she said it was only one piece of the solution's puzzle — and a shift in public attitude was another.

"I think the community needs to start speaking up," she said.

"If they see [these children on the street], don't just fob them off as naughty kids, have a think about what may be going on in the background.

"Because some of these kids are being abused."

Young people 'a priority' in drug action plan: Barr

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr admitted more could be done to assist young people falling through the cracks.

"Clearly this is not just an issue inside the ACT, it's one that permeates in this nation and indeed around the world," Mr Barr told ABC Radio Canberra.

"So it would be fair to observe that current policies are not achieving all that we would hope and that's why we've released our new strategy and we look forward to implementing that."

In June 2018, the ACT Government invited public feedback on their ACT Drug Strategy Action Plan to address drug, tobacco and alcohol problems in the territory.

"Young people are a priority in that plan and we will certainly look at this new info in the context of how we implement that plan in the new year," he said.

"So we'll do what we can within our resources, and we'll also look to work collaboratively with other jurisdictions."