Monday 20th October, 2014

His name is 'Jake'. At 15 years old, he was an ice dealer, a user and a crystal meth cook.

'Jake' is the new face of crystal meth, or ice, in Australia. It's the drug that's ravaged our major cities. But now it's destroying country towns one by one.

This week on Four Corners, reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna travels through the regions of two states, riding with police and users, to tell the shocking story of towns and people in the grip of ice.

She pieces together a disturbing picture: major international drug cartels are working with locally based outlaw motorcycle gangs to push ice out of the cities. It's a massive illicit corporate enterprise; sophisticated and highly organised.

Their targets? Captive markets of bored teenagers in country towns, where there's a desperate lack of treatment facilities and under resourced or non-existent police.

Four Corners goes to one community of less than 4,000 people where up to one in ten people are using ice. Meldrum-Hanna meets teenagers who began using in their early teens, sits with them as they smoke ice and with others as they inject, and discovers how bikie gangs use other children to "cook" methamphetamine, destroying their health and leaving them with ruinous addiction.

In short, the program tells the story of a generation that is being condemned to a life of drug abuse, crime and ultimately early death. The most alarming element of this story is the age of the people involved, as one clinical nurse at the coalface in regional Australia explains:

"The demographic for ice is changing all the time. We're noticing the age actually dropping, there's been reports of 10 year olds presenting at the Emergency Department here."

Seventeen-year-old 'Ethan' is a prime example of the power and spread of ice, the reality of what's happening beyond city borders. He was injected by a local drug dealer when he was just a boy. He says it took just one night for him to get hooked. This sent his life into a downward spiral that saw 'Ethan' leave school, join a crystal meth pack of fellow young addicts hopping from town to town chasing ice, stealing from people night and day to feed their addiction.

Not even his family was safe.

"Mum locked the door on me and I remember thinking... if I get in there I will hurt her for money. I will get money out of her some, one way or another."

As each person's story unfolds it becomes disturbingly clear: there is almost nowhere for young addicts in regional Australia to go to get help. That leaves health workers in despair:

"We're going to talk about the utter devastation of small rural communities where we're going to have a lot of mental health issues, criminal activity. It's going to be a nightmare."

ICE RUSH, reported by Caro Meldrum-Hanna and presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 20th October at 8.30pm on ABC. It is replayed on Tuesday 21st October at 11.00am and 11.35pm. It can also be seen on ABC News 24 on Saturday at 8.00pm, ABC iview or abc.net.au/4corners.

Transcript

Ice Rush, 20th October 2014

KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: In 2006 Four Corners showed 'The Ice Age' - a confronting and deeply unsettling look at how the drug known as ice or crystal meth was destroying the lives of hard-core inner city drug users.

The program generated a huge reaction but the only thing that's changed in eight years is that it is now far worse - frightening in fact.

Ice is now widespread in country towns and rural communities as well, right around the nation and it's incredibly destructive.

It's estimated that almost 350,000 Australians smoked, snorted or injected crystal methamphetamine in the past year.

It's often distributed by ruthless and manipulative motorcycle gangs who are now targeting bored teenagers in country towns where police are under resourced and there's a desperate lack of treatment facilities.

Caro Meldrum-Hanna followed a trail of destruction in regional Victoria and Tasmania for this shocking story of towns and people trapped in a vicious cycle.

(Footage of sign saying welcome to St Arnaud)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA, REPORTER: The sun's out in the small country town of St Arnaud, north-west Victoria.

It's a beautiful day.

But 19-year-old Jake is spending it indoors, inside his bedroom.

(to Jake) And is this how you spend a lot of your days? Hanging out with mates?

JAKE, RECOVERING ICE ADDICT: Yeah pretty much.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It's a small room with no natural light and no fresh air. The windows are covered.

Jake's friend is here too. We can't show you his face. He's about to get high.

Jake's friend is smoking ice - the crystallised super-charged speed, the purest form of methamphetamine.

It's remarkable to watch, because Jake himself is a recovering ice addict.

Jake, how is it sitting with your mate here who's smoking ice?

JAKE: Oh it's no different than sitting here having a cigarette really. It comes down...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It's not tempting?

JAKE: Oh everything's tempting but it comes down to mind over matter a lot of the time.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: (to friend) Would you say that you're addicted?

FRIEND, ICE USER: Maybe, like a tiny bit, like if that's possible (laughs).

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Jake's friend says he suffers from depression. He smokes ice to make him feel good.

(to friend) So it makes you feel happier?

FRIEND: Yeah, yeah for sure.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: So how popular is it around here, you know?

FRIEND: Um, very (laughs).

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The town of St Arnaud is home to just 3,500 people. But we're told ice is rampant.

JAKE: High demand.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: High demand?

JAKE: Yep. Pretty much gold around here, a lot of people would see it as, and it's worth more than its weight in gold as well. Like, and that's an actual fact unfortunately.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: So how has crystal meth made it all the way out here? And how big is the problem in rural Australia?

JAKE: It's as common as weed. Which is ridiculous.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: So how has it got to this point?

JAKE: Well, there's a lot of money in it. Hell of a lot of money and a hell of a lot of dodgy c***s.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Two hours' drive south is the regional hub of Ballarat, once a gold rush boomtown. Today it's grappling with a sudden influx of crystal meth.

Here, and right across regional Victoria, the age of ice users has plummeted, defying national trends.

DARREN CUTTS, WITHDRAWAL NURSE, TABOR HOUSE: The demographic for ice is changing all the time. We're noticing the age actually dropping. There's been reports of 10-year-olds presenting at the Emergency Department here in Ballarat.

(to new resident) Alright mate, let's head off and do a bag search.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Just outside town is Tabor House - a youth residential withdrawal centre for 12 to 21-year-olds. Clinical nurse Darren Cutts is checking a new arrival for drugs.

DARREN CUTTS: So sorry about this mate, we don't want to go through anyone's stuff but it's part of the program.

NEW RESIDENT: Yeah.

DARREN CUTTS: Take a seat.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: A four-bed facility, Tabor House has a waiting list of up to two months. That's because, unbelievably, it's the only one of its kind for all of regional Victoria.

In the past 18 months, admissions for ice-affected young people have leapt 80 per cent.

DARREN CUTTS: The youngest client that we've actually seen here at Tabor at the moment for ice withdrawal is 14.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Fourteen-years-old?

DARREN CUTTS: Yep. Ah for me it's the worst thing I've ever seen.

(Aaron feeding a horse)

AARON, RECOVERING ICE ADDICT: That a boy.

I had a harder trouble getting it in the city than I did out here.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It's 19-year-old Aaron's last day at Tabor. He's been here for two weeks to get off ice.

Originally a city boy, Aaron began using when he was 15. His addiction has left him painfully thin and highly anxious.

AARON: It's dark, it's scary, it's dirty. You know, like personal hygiene falls to shit, and appetite is just gone, you don't eat, you don't sleep. Life's chaotic.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: What was your lowest point?

AARON: When I tried to hang myself in my mum's shed.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Before Aaron leaves Tabor, he has one last thing to do. It's a symbolic act - a handprint to mark two weeks being clean.

AARON: I want to stay clean. But it's easier said than done.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Aaron's handprint is one of hundreds spread across three walls. The lucky ones who managed to get in to Tabor House.

It's a confronting display, evidence of a problem out of control in regional Victoria.

DARREN CUTTS: Here in Ballarat we're only seeing the crest of the wave. We certainly haven't, you know, reached the peak, it's still increasing.

It's in every little town that these clients are presenting. They will tell you that the town is running amok on ice.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Next to Aaron's handprint is the imprint of a set of knuckles belonging to a boy named Ethan. He's been to Tabor House twice in the past year.

DARREN CUTTS: He'd actually arrived from a psychiatric facility. His life completely and utterly fell apart, when Ethan found ice.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Must've just taken your breath away. Watching your child...

PENNY, ETHAN'S MOTHER: This... destroy himself? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It did.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Penny and her son Ethan live an hour's drive north east of Ballarat in Castlemaine.

When we visited, bikies were in town.

(to Ethan) Did you rack up drug debts?

ETHAN: Yeah, yeah a few times.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Who did you owe?

ETHAN: Um... well, I'd... I actually generally owe someone that owed bikies.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Out here, it's called 'shard'.

An addict for over a year, Ethan says crystal meth turned him into a monster.

ETHAN: I just wanted to see blood. That's all I wanted. Because you know I wanted to kill someone almost - like I was ready to.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Ethan says it took just one night on ice to get hooked. First he smoked it. The next morning, his friend - a local dealer - asked him to come to the park, to the public toilets.

ETHAN: And he pulled out two syringes, two sterile syringes. And at first I was like "Ooh that seems a bit, you know, a bit dodgy" but then after a while I looked, he put it in a spoon and started crushing it up and got a bit of a water in there and all I could think was "Yeah, fuck yeah, I don't care how it goes in me, I just want - I just want that".

DARREN CUTTS: So it, you know, it unleashes this massive amount of... of dopamine, it's the pleasure drug. So it causes this enormous rush within these young minds. They simply can't cope.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: This is the brain's usual level of dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for feeling pleasure and happiness.

Watch what happens when ice enters the equation. A massive spike in dopamine, bigger than any other drug. Over time, ice destroys the brain's ability to produce dopamine naturally.

It's a drug - and an addiction - like no other.

ETHAN: As soon as that needle went in my arm it was just, that was, I just couldn't, couldn't live without it. I felt like it was my... it was the way... it was my way of life you know.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Ethan stopped going to school, disappearing for weeks on end. Hopping from town to town, chasing ice, crashing in meth houses often run by adults. Physically and mentally Ethan quickly fell apart.

Ethan would come home looking for money to buy more ice. He was violent and filled with rage.

ETHAN: Mum had locked the door on me and I remember thinking that, you know, if I get in there I will hurt her for money, kind of thing. I will get money out of her some... one way or another.

PENNY: And he just... he just... his mouth opened like a furnace and he looked like he could've lifted the house up, he could've just... his rage was so immense.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Terrified, one night Penny called the police and recorded the sounds of her son being capsicum sprayed.

(Extract from recording)

ETHAN: (inaudible yelling) What you just gave me, water in the fucking eye's of course you're not giving me anymore. You fucking hurt me more you c***s, fucking hell (crying). I hate the fucking system (crying).

(End of extract)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: We played this recording to Ethan. It's the first time he's heard it.

ETHAN: Was that me?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Do you remember that night?

ETHAN: No.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Who was that person you were just listening to?

ETHAN: I got a bit of a shock just then. That was the bad side of me I guess. That was... I don't even know what that was.

PENNY: I was worried that Ethan had damaged his brain so much that he was a sociopath, he was going to potentially be somebody that was going to need incarceration for his life.

(Playing computer games)

PENNY: Was that you?

ETHAN: No.

PENNY: That was you.

ETHAN: It wasn't me.

PENNY: That's you passing me now.

ETHAN: Snap (laughs).

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: This was Ethan's turning point. He went to rehab, and is now four months clean.

(Sound of Ethan laughing)

PENNY: Ahhh.

ETHAN: I beat you.

PENNY: Whatever.

ETHAN: Congratulations for losing

(Penny laughs and taps Ethan's arm)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: But staying away from ice is a daily battle. In his town, it's everywhere.

(Sound of electric guitar riff and drummer hitting drum sticks)

ETHAN: I could get onto ice right now. I couldn't get onto bud.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Where would you go to get it?

ETHAN: I'd probably just go up the road, you know. It's just up the road and it's easy to get.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: You can walk up the road and buy ice?

ETHAN: I could walk up the road and get it, yep.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: In this small country town?

ETHAN: In this small country town.

PAUL ROSS, ACTING SUPERINTENDENT, VICTORIA POLICE WESTERN REGION: It is probably our biggest driver of crime, our biggest current driver of crime... ah, in some form.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: In Ballarat, police are struggling with a surge in ice-related crime. Robberies and theft, assault and family violence are all up.

And users are also dealing.

Equally situated from Victoria's two biggest centres, Melbourne and Geelong, ice is being trafficked into town with speed and ease. In cars, on trucks, aboard trains - leading to an explosion of local dealers.

(to Paul Ross) How often would you be busting a dealer then?

PAUL ROSS: It's a regular occurrence, two to three times a week.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Two to three times a week?

PAUL ROSS: Ah at various levels. Some, some bigger dealers than others, obviously.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: This is what police are regularly finding on local dealers. This bag of ice contains around 20 points or hits with a street value of around $2,000.

Next to it. What looks like a mobile phone. Case off, it doubles as a set of scales.

Four Corners understands they're distributing on behalf of outlaw motorcycle gangs, moving ice from city to country. The Vikings, the Finks and the Bandidos have all established chapters in Ballarat.

(to Paul Ross) Is it being cooked here?

PAUL ROSS: Ah some of it will be getting cooked here or somewhere else, um but the easy transportation of it um just makes it easier to bring it in from elsewhere. Um when really, think about it, if you've got an easy supply chain, why would you risk trying to manufacture it locally?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Outlaw motorcycle gangs aren't just major players in the distribution and supply of ice in north-west Victoria. Four Corners has discovered they're also cooking it.

(to Jake) The motorcycle gang you were working for, how many cooks did they have in the area?

JAKE: I wouldn't be able to say. I knew of a fair few but I wouldn't be able to say.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: You're looking at a former dealer and local crystal meth cook.

Jake's story is like no other - where poverty, addiction and organised crime intersect. A lonely child in a tiny country town, preyed on by members of an outlaw motorcycle gang.

JAKE: Pretty much like training an attack dog. If you get them young, the sky's the limit.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Jake's story begins when he was 11-years-old in the town of St Arnaud. Abandoned by his father and older brothers, left alone at home to pay the mortgage and care for his mentally ill mother.

JAKE: For a while I didn't really know what to do but when it really came down to it I knew I had to make some form of income. And you can't really get a job at that age.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Jake was approached by an older man with a job opportunity. For Jake's protection we cannot name him or tell you which motorcycle gang he belongs to.

JAKE: Someone offered me to move certain amounts of marijuana for them, started off simple like that.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And what happened next?

JAKE: When I hit you know mid-13, is when it all started to develop a lot more because I had a fairly big clientele for my age.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Jake was dealing drugs to small towns around the clock, barely sleeping. When he was 13, Jake's new-found family, a brotherhood of men, gave him a present.

JAKE: I was given a sweet puff as a present. As a "present" they call it, isn't really a present in the end (laughs). More of a burden.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: A sweet puff?

JAKE: Sweet puff is just a crack pipe. It's the most common brand.

I didn't have much explained to me about the drug or anything to do with it in a sense. It just was around like everything else was. I had constant access to pretty much whatever I wanted.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: But nothing comes for free. Over the next year, Jake used more and more. He was also being taught the tricks of the trade.

JAKE: Drug testing kit.

Getting taught, you know different methods, different ingredients, different parts.

Profit margins - especially. The difference between buying it and selling it, and making it and selling it.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: So you were taught how to make crystal meth?

JAKE: Unfortunately.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Jake was now locked into a business arrangement.

JAKE: At the time it seemed like the best decision I ever made. It was like winning the lotto or pretty much getting a license to print money.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: So when did you start cooking alone? When were you trusted?

JAKE: About the age of 15, mid-15.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Jake says he'd be picked up from home by members of the syndicate, driven to a remote location, and left alone.

He says the group constantly changed labs, erecting 20 by 40 sheds, dismantling and setting up elsewhere, in shipping containers, old farm houses, to keep ahead of the police.

He wouldn't give us specific addresses.

(to Jake) How long would you cook for per session when they'd drop you off?

JAKE: It varied over times but long periods could be even up to four days.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Four days straight?

JAKE: Mmm.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Did you sleep?

JAKE: Um no.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Jake says he was left with as much ice as he could possibly smoke.

JAKE: You'd OD (overdose) before you got anywhere near through any of it.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Why do you think they left you with so much?

JAKE: Oh because at the time you think they're being nice. Realistically they want you to stay awake and alert so you can get the job done, and secondly because they're making a lot more out of it than you think or than what you're being told.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: At his most productive, Jake says he was cooking an ounce a day. That's 28 grams or 280 points, with a street value of up to $28,000.

At the end of a four or five day cooking stint, he'd be picked up and taken out to party or, pictured here, taken home to try and sleep.

All up the cycle continued for four years.

(to Jake) How did you get out of this?

JAKE: Everything's got its price. Um…

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: You can't tell me what that way out was?

JAKE: I don't... yeah I don't think it'd portray me as a very... or even human to really talk about it. It's the thing I'm least proud of in my life, but something which should never be asked of anybody.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: No one from Jake's family would speak up for him on camera.

But Darren Cutts did. He's cared for Jake through his four stints at Tabor House.

DARREN CUTTS: Jake has been scared for a long, long time. You can see that in his eyes.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: You think it's brave though what he's done?

DARREN CUTTS: Absolutely, absolutely. Yep. One of the bravest young men I've ever met.

JAKE: There's not much what can be done to me what hasn't already been done so... there's a point when fear leaves and you just want to go on with your life.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Jake says he was one of many young cooks being used by bikie gangs.

He's also been charged with multiple assaults. If convicted, he could be facing two to four years jail.

JAKE: Here's several court notices. Mumph.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: But local police - despite their efforts - never found the stashes of ice he once had at home.

(to Jake) Did you keep large quantities of ice here?

JAKE: Ah I did in the past, but they're not very smart. I could do their job better than they do. The ones up here are useless.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Are you confident that your counterparts in country areas are able to deal with this?

STEPHEN FONTANA, ASST COMMISSIONER, VICTORIA POLICE CRIME COMMAND: It's difficult. Some are better resourced than others. You know, because we've got a lot of competing priorities out in you know just general policing, so they'll put their resources where the greatest harm is being caused.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: In Melbourne city the effects of crystal meth are playing out on the streets.

(Extract from bus camera)

ICE USER: (screaming) Drive the bus!

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Ice users are highly unpredictable and often violent - one captured here assaulting a bus driver.

BUS DRIVER: Get off.

ICE USER: (hitting driver) Just drive the bus mate.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Purity is high and crime is up.

ICE USER: (screaming) Drive the fucking bus!

(End of extract)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Victoria police are on track to bust a record number of meth labs this year, with 120 already discovered and shut down across the state.

Labs are becoming increasingly mobile. These photos show crystal meth being cooked in the backs of trucks, transported in suitcases.

(to Stephen Fontana) What does that say to you, that you are eclipsing your records every year in the, in your number of lab busts?

STEPHEN FONTANA: We've got a problem. We've got a big problem. This is the worse substance we've seen - by far.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: According to police intelligence, several major international cartels have shifted manufacturing operations to Australia, with the Bandidos, Rebels, Finks or Mongols, Comancheros and the Hells Angels all involved in distribution.

Some are cutting ice with heroin to guarantee mental and physical addiction. It's a massive illicit corporate enterprise.

(to Stephen Fontana) Why is Australia such a lucrative market for ice producers?

STEPHEN FONTANA: Because we... we're like a wealthy count... ah, we are a wealthy country and we pay a lot more for ice.

So you know if you're running an organisation and particularly an organised crime syndicate, you're going to come to a place where you're going to get best bang for buck. And unfortunately Australia is one of those places.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: And it's leaving the mainland. Bound for the island state, the final frontier.

It's six am in Devonport, north-west Tasmania. The daily ferry from Melbourne is pulling in, carrying passengers and cargo.

Four Corners understands The Spirit is increasingly being used by outlaw motorcycle gangs the Rebels and the Outlaws to ship ice from state to state.

Across town at Devonport police, the drug squad is preparing to raid a known meth house.

STEVE KEISELIS, SERGEANT: Essentially guys, information and intelligence has been received that suggests methamphetamine and amphetamine is being sold, distributed, used from this residence.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Amphetamine related drug offences have doubled in north-west Tasmania in the past year, and seizures are up 25 per cent.

(Extract from raid)

POLICE OFFICER: Open the door!

POLICE OFFICER 2: Stay out here.

(Sound of police using battering ram to break open door)

POLICE OFFICER 2: Watch out! Watch out mate, lets' run through the other side.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Inside, police quickly find what they're looking for.

STEVE KEISELIS: Yeah righto, that was in here?

POLICE OFFICER 3: Yeah I was just sitting in that chair and thought I'd look in that box.

STEVE KEISELIS: Yep.

POLICE OFFICER 3: And I just found it, so first place I looked.

STEVE KEISELIS: Right.

(to Robert Gunton) That's a fairly sizeable quantity of ice.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Lab tests pending, it's the second time in as many weeks the occupants of this neat and tidy rental home have been busted for ice.

(to Robert Gunton) More of these popping up around north-west Tasmania?

ROBERT GUNTON, DETECTIVE INSPECTOR: We certainly say... you know we started seeing methamphetamine about two years ago um and we're certainly seizing more of it.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: The spread of ice hasn't stopped in Devonport. It's crept through towns dotted along the coastline into the city of Burnie.

A 15 minute drive away is Serenity House, a two week time out facility where addicts come to withdraw before going to rehab.

JANETTE JENSEN: At the moment we've got three people who are recovering from ice use. Welcome to Serenity House.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: There are seven beds at Serenity House. Yet only two of them are funded by the government and only for alcohol.

JANETTE JENSEN: And here, these are our two sober... place of safety sober up beds.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Mmm.

JANETTE JENSEN: In here we take people that the police send, a place of safety and this is our funded - these two beds are funded, but the five beds upstairs are not.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Yeah these are empty. But you're funded to fill these?

JANETTE JENSEN: Yes.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It's a damning indictment for Tasmania, a state in the grip of a sudden ice scourge.

In addition to being the only one of its kind for the whole state, Serenity House is also desperately under-funded.

JANETTE JENSEN: We are really under-resourced, we are really under-resourced. I can get four phone calls in a day and have to knock people back. I am known for putting a sixth person on the sofa upstairs for a couple of days you know while we get an empty bed. I'd do that rather than knock someone back who was in real crisis.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Bradley, a poly drug user and a recovering alcoholic, has been to rehab four times for crystal meth. He says he was also a dealer.

BRADLEY: It just ruins your life, it ruined my life.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Bradley is 40-years-old. He's lost all but three of his upper teeth.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: How'd you lose them?

BRADLEY: Just drugs. Ended up pulling them all out myself. Like some people pick their hands, they've got insects in there, well I had a thing about pulling my teeth out and I only have three left.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: How did you pull them out?

BRADLEY: With a pair of pliers (laughs).

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: You're just sitting at home and you ripped your teeth out of your head?

BRADLEY: Yeah with a pair of pliers. That's what... that's what ice can do to you. I've just... yeah.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: At 10 am, Janette takes the residents of Serenity House to group therapy at The Bridge in Burnie - a drug and alcohol treatment program.

It's where we meet Kym.

KYM: With me I have a... like a good Kym and a bad Kym (laughs) sitting on either shoulder and they have these fights. And it goes on all day! It's weird.

JANETTE JENSEN: What I've seen ice do to her brings me to tears. Brings me to tears to see her.

KYM: This drug is addictive. Very, very addictive. I don't care what anyone says. And people reckon you can't hang out for it. Oh yes you can, believe me.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Right now are you hanging out for it?

KYM: I'm starting to, yeah. Starting to get a bit agitated.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Kym's an injector. We meet at her housing commission home, where she lives alone. Her eldest daughter Aloysia is also here.

ALOYSIA: Take your cuppa tea for starters.

KYM: Ah yeah, thank you!

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It's 10am. And Kym is getting ready for the day.

KYM: After a certain amount of days you start picking at your skin and it starts off like this but then it ends up like the whole side of your face peeling away.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Kym's 55-years-old. Her skin is starting to break out. She's been using meth for three days straight.

She's trying to put her earrings on.

KYM: Ah, good on ya. It's the worst thing getting the shakes and I can't do anything (laughs). I don't know what effect this is going to have on my family but I don't care really. I'm trying to help younger people. Hey?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Kym wants to show us the devastating effects of long-term meth use. She's been using for six years, up to a gram a day.

Kym is shaking and twitching uncontrollably.

Meth targets the central nervous system.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Why are you putting a straw in your tea, Kym?

KYM: Because I can't drink it without spilling it.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: You're shaking too much?

KYM: Yeah.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Why are you shaking so much?

KYM: It's because of the gear. It's because of the gear. Mmm. Much better (laughs).

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Last night she was hallucinating, talking to people that weren't there. She woke up covered in her own vomit.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Did that scare you?

KYM: No. I know I've got brain damage. If I hadn't known I had brain damage it would scare me. But now I know what's wrong and it doesn't scare me. It's always in the knowing, isn't it?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Kym's a recovered heroin and morphine addict and a recovered alcoholic. The longest stint she's ever been totally clean is 18 months.

Kym shows us her arms scarred by years of self harm, track marks, and ice sores.

KYM: And that's where I've been picking at myself.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Why are you picking at yourself?

KYM: Because I think there is things there. Like pimples or blackheads or something.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Is there?

KYM: No (laughs) there's not. It's just what speed and methamphetamine do to you. Like talking to people that aren't there when you're coming off, you know.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: As the afternoon wears on, Kym gets more and more agitated.

KYM: No one tells me what to fucking do.

ALOYSIA: (inaudible) No, I'll give you a little bit. Just don't want you wasting it.

KYM: I'm not gonna!

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: She texts her dealer who responds almost immediately.

KYM: Fuck! Two seconds! Two seconds oh-ho! All right I'll be back in a minute. See youse!

ALOYSIA: See ya mamma.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Kym won't let us meet her dealer. She returns minutes later.

KYM: Because I owed heaps of money. And I said "Oh Aren't I a good girl? I cleared my debt on Wednesday!"

He said, "You fuckin idiot, today's Wednesday!" (laughter) Oh no, I'm losing me mind.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Kym's shaking too much to mix it for herself.

KYM: Aloysia.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: She asks her daughter to do it for her.

Today it looks like she's scored meth a cut down version of ice.

KYM: Oh jeez smells like petrol.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: She puts her glasses on. And inserts the needle in her arm.

KYM: Fuckin hell. Mmm (begins to get angry)

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: She can't find a vein. So Kym tries her hand.

KYM: Stings a bit. Fucking hell. I can taste it. Yeah, weird. Phew. Just give me a minute. My hearing has gone loud. I can hear... yeah everything's loud.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Kym will now spend the rest of the day at home. A calmness has come over her. She's also stopped shaking.

(to Kym) How long ago was that photo taken of you there?

KYM: Right. I've forgotten (laughs) 16... (begins to count on fingers), 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 - nine years ago.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Meth makes the time go quickly. It also speeds up the ageing process.

(to Kym) Do you still have all your teeth?

KYM: No. They're my teeth, the ugly looking ones. They're false.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: High on meth, Kym used to picked at her teeth and gums with a pin.

(Kym removes dentures)

Infected, they all had to be removed.

KYM: (Laughs) Ice does this. Some... well yes, ice does this. Sometimes it doesn't give you the get up and go in your body, but it gives you the get up and go in your brain. So you'll sit there because you don't feel energetic but your brain is going round, round, round, round, round. So you do all this weird shit like pick your teeth, pick your face. Pick holes in your arms, you know.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Kym has had four daughters to four different men, and drug abuse has been passed down to some in the next generation.

(to Aloysia) Have you ever used with your mum?

ALOYSIA: Yeah I have. Yep. I have. At least it's not like some random off the street.

KYM: That's what I always told her. At least you're safe with me.

ALOYSIA: Exactly. And I know if anything happens to me she's there, and vice-a versa.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Kym's eldest daughter Aloysia is 37-years-old. Mother to three sons, she says she's stopped using.

She's 13 weeks pregnant.

But drugs are all around her. Her ex-partner and her son have repeatedly torn through her house in meth rages.

ALOYSIA: This is my hallway of destruction.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Okay.

ALOYSIA: That one and that one, my ex-partner coming down off Ritalin.

My son, who I think was on ice. That. That - in one kick.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It's gone right through the wall into your room.

ALOYSIA: Yeah, yep.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It's a lot of violence and chaos to live in.

ALOYSIA: It is, it's awful. Yep.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Do you find that a lot of people in your world, in your life in this town are using ice and speed?

ALOYSIA: Yeah it's everywhere you go. Everywhere. Everywhere, it's crazy.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: So Kym we're looking at three generations?

KYM: Mmm. Sad, isn't it?

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It's something Kym is deeply ashamed of. But she has suffered herself - both sexual and physical abuse since childhood.

KYM: I don't like meself very much (begins to get upset). I haven't been a very good role model for me kids (crying). It seems like everything I touch, I muck up. But I'm going to beat this thing if it kills me.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Kym reads us a text message from one of her daughters. She wants Kym to go back to rehab and get clean for good.

KYM: "I really do understand and it's scary and it's hard to ask for help again. As I said, I'm not judging you (crying). My love for you will never waver."

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: Kym's body has begun to break down. If she doesn't stop using, she won't live to see her beloved grandchildren grow up.

And she has a message for young people.

KYM: I would say get help now before it gets its hooks into you. Otherwise you are damned. You will end up with nothing. And you will end up lonely, and you will end up with brain damage.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: But getting help in regional Australia is easier said than done. There's a desperate lack of treatment facilities. It's a disaster waiting to happen. And there's no time to lose.

(to Darren Cutts) If the treatment of ice in young people is... if nothing is done, if it remains the same as it is now, what do you foresee in five years? Tell us the ugly, real truth.

DARREN CUTTS: We're... we're gonna talk about just utter devastation of small rural communities where we're gonna to have a lot of mental health issues, a lot of criminal activity et cetera, et cetera. It's going to be a nightmare.

(Footage from St Vincent's Hospital)

GORDIAN FULDE, PROFESSOR, DIRECTOR, EMERGENCY DEPT ST VINCENT'S HOSPITAL: Come through. Just on the chairs here come and have... have, have a seat there for a minute.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: This is what governments can expect if nothing is done to stop the ice scourge.

GORDIAN FULDE: You've got all these injection marks right? You're in a really bad way buddy, I think you're really sick from infection.

PATIENT: Yeah me legs are bad mate, that's what I'm trying to say (inaudible).

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: It's 11.30pm in Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia's original ice city. The night of the lunar eclipse.

Inside the emergency department at St Vincent's Hospital, Professor Gordian Fulde is tending to a 35-year-old man in acute distress. He's an 'end of the road' ice addict.

GORDIAN FULDE: Alright, you got the itches, the bugs? Got the bugs? Show me your tongue buddy. It's a bit dry. No wonder you want some water.

PATIENT: (inaudible).

GORDIAN FULDE: We're looking after you. I'm the boss here, we're going to look after you.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: We can't show you the man's face. He's covered in sores, his body is septic. His brain is permanently damaged and he's losing control of his muscle movements.

He's close to death.

GORDIAN FULDE: How long you been in trouble with the ice?

PATIENT: Oh well, I started off with um speed years ago when I was like, about, I don't know, 15 or something.

GORDIAN FULDE: Yeah. All right. Okay.

Excuse me, I'll put the bed up a little bit for you. There you go, that will get you more comfortable. Alright I'll get you a drink.

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: He was a 15-year-old boy when he began using - when he began to leave this world.

Twenty years on, it's likely he'll never be coming back.

GORDIAN FULDE: It is such a tragic event. And I reckon, I reckon he's a nice guy.

Under that he's... there's... he's not nasty, not horrible, it's just...

CARO MELDRUM-HANNA: He's not violent?

GORDIAN FULDE: No. He's not... he's not... he's not what you... if it was a dark room you'd say like this is an average nice guy you know. But he's fallen prey to the demons.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Fallen prey to the demons.

What you've seen tonight is the tiny tip of a very large iceberg. The question is what are government's going to do about it.

Just after Four Corners visited Tasmania, the Health Minister there announced a review into drug rehabilitation services in the north-west of the state - what about the rest of the country?

Over the next half hour if you're on east coast daylight saving time Four Corners will run an online forum on the ABC News Facebook page if you'd like to participate or just follow the discussion.

Background Information

NATIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES

Lifeline | 13 11 14

ADIN | Australian Drug Information Network | Alcohol and drug search directory | www.adin.com.au

CounsellingOnline | 24 hours a day, 7 days a week | Free alcohol and drug counselling online | www.counsellingonline.org.au

Family Drug Support | Support network for family members | 24 hour | 1300 368 186 | fds.org.au

Family Drug Help | 1300 660 068 | 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Drugs Meter | Anonymous, personalised feedback on your drug use | www.drugsmeter.com

Drug Info | Facts and resources about alcohol and drugs from the Australian Drug Foundation | 1300 85 85 84 | www.druginfo.adf.org.au

STATEWIDE SUPPORT LISTED BELOW

METHAMPHETAMINE RESEARCH AND INFORMATION

Inquiry into the supply and use of methamphetamines, particularly 'ice' in Victoria | The Law Reform, Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee, Parliament of Victoria | 2014

Tasmanian Drug Trends 2012: Findings from the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) | One hundred and six people who regularly injected illicit drugs (PWID) were interviewed | NDARC | 2012

Illicit Drug Data Report 2012-13 | Australian Crime Commission | A statistical overview of illicit drug arrests and seizures as well as profiling the current situation, national impact and the emerging trends and threats of illicit drugs in Australia.

Drug driving in Australia | 166 people have died in 146 drug driving fatal crashes in the four year period from 2010 to 2013 | Centre for Road Safety, August 2014

What difference does treatment make? | Developing a qualitative measure of young people's progress in residential rehabilitation: final report | National Drug Research Institute | 2014

Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS) National Report | Monitors the price, purity and availability of 'ecstasy' and other drugs such as methamphetamine. It also examines trends in the use and harms of these drugs | NDARC | 2013

Ice Fact Sheet | Reach Out.com

Trends in amphetamine-related harms in Victoria | Medical Journal of Australia | Only available to subscribers, artice about the report in The Guardian

Methamphetamine Use and Violent Behavior: User Perceptions and Predictors | Journal of Drug Use | 2013

Effects of Length of Abstinence on Decision-Making and Craving in Methamphetamine Abusers | Journal Plosone | 2013

Contrasting Trajectories of Heroin, Cocaine, and Methamphetamine Use | Journal of Addictive Diseases | 2008

Cardiotoxicity associated with methamphetamine use and signs of cardiovascular pathology among methamphetamine users | NDARC | 2005

Patterns of Use and Harms Associated with specific populations of methamphetamine users in Australia | Exploratory Research | Blue Moon research | 2008

National Drugs Strategy Household Surveys | While there was no significant increase in meth/amphetamine use in 2013, the use of ice (or crystal methamphetamine) more than doubled | AIHW | 2013

Treatment approaches for users of methamphetamine | A practical guide for frontline workers | Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre | 2008

Amphetamine-type stimulants: speed and ice | Fact File | ABC Health | 2013

Speed and Ice | Factsheet | NSW Health

Amphetamine-type stimulants | Management of Substance Abuse | World Health Organisation

ORGANISATION LINKS

Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) | the principal advisory body to Government on drug policy and plays a critical role in ensuring the voice of the community is heard in relation to drug related policies and strategies

Australian Drug Foundation | One of Australia's leading bodies committed to preventing alcohol and other drug problems in communities around the nation

Australian Drug Information Network | Australia's leading alcohol and drug search directory

DrugInfo Clearinghouse | Facts and sources about alcohol and drugs

National Drug Strategy | Aimed at improving health, social and economic outcomes for Australians by preventing the uptake of harmful drug use and reducing the harmful effects of licit and illicit drugs in our society

National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund | Promotes quality evidence-based practice in drug law enforcement to prevent and reduce the harmful effects of licit and illicit drug use in Australian society

National Drug Research Institute (NDRI) | Curtin Universtiy | Conducts and disseminates high quality research that contributes to the primary prevention of harmful drug use and the reduction of drug related harm in Australia

National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) | UNSW | Conducts and disseminates high quality research and related activities that increases the effectiveness of treatment and other intervention responses to alcohol and other drug related harm

Queensland Alcohol and Drug Research and Education Centre (QADREC) | UQ

Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association (VAADA) | The peak body representing Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) services in Victoria

MEDIA

Crystal meth: Former drug lab cook recruited at age 11 as outlaw motorbike gangs push drugs in rural towns | ABC News | 20 October, 2014

Drug report: Use of crystal methamphetamine or 'ice' rising rapidly among intravenous drug users | ABC News | 20 October, 2014

Schizophrenic love | The love and heartache that you feel when your daughter is going through her first Schizophrenic episode because of taking meth amphetamines! | ABC Open | 20 October, 2014

Circular Head focuses on ice with public forum | Circular Head residents will continue fighting ice use in the area with a public forum on October 31 | The Advocate | 18 September, 2014

'Mum, I've been taking ice': toll of a new drug menace | Ice, also known as crystal meth, is a new menace in regional areas | Illawarra Mercury | 16 October, 2014

Research questions the scale of the ice drug problem | A new study into the use of the drug ice reveals that the problem is not at epidemic proportions - but experts are concerned about the growing purity of the drug | Radio National Breakfast | 15 October, 2014

Rates of hospitalisation due to ice or crystal meth double in 7 years | AM | 14 October, 2014

ADHD treatment trialled in bid to help ice addicts kick deadly habit | A drug used to treat inattentive and impulsive children could be the key to weaning addicts off the deadly drug ice, researchers say | ABC News | 14 October, 2014

Kids as young as 11 addicts in towns gripped by drug ice | SBS News | 26 September, 2014

Breaking Bad 'coming to life' as Victoria battles ice, MP says as parliamentary committee releases drug report | ABC News | 3 September, 2014

Ice report finds more resources needed to tackle 'disturbing' new online drug markets | ABC News | 3 Septmeber, 2014

NW rehab review a 'high priority' | A Review into drug rehabilitation services on the North-West Coast will provide answers in "weeks rather than months", said Health Minister Michael Ferguson | The Advocate | 2 September, 2014

One family's story - secret drug addiction | The Age | 30 August, 2014

Labor promises 25-year jail terms for ice offences | Daniel Andrews says Labor will crack down on crystal meth crime, with new offences such as dealing ice to schoolchildren carrying up to 25 years in prison | The Age | 27 August, 2014

Ice epidemic | Ice or crystal methamphetamine can make users feel invincible but the downside is addiction, violence and psychosis | Life Matters | 21 August, 2014

No known treatment for ice addiction, inquiry told | Australia urgently needs to step up research into treatments for ice addiction, health and drug experts say | 7 July, 2014

Children as young as 10 using ice in Ballarat | The Courier | 27 June, 2014

Ice age: the rise of crystal meth in Australia | The use of crystal meth among Australians continues to increase and remains at a high level, according to a new report | The Conversation | 2 May, 2014

Police make plea to public in war on state's No.1 problem drug, meth | Use of Tasmania's No. 1 problem drug, methamphetamine, continues to rise as police act to stamp out its importation and shut down local labs | Mercury | 27 April, 2014

Rising drug use will result in increased dental problems including meth mouth, experts say | 31 March, 2014

Amphetamine addiction overtakes alcohol and heroin | AM | 23 December, 2013

RELEVANT FOUR CORNERS PROGRAMS

The Ice Age | Four Corners goes to the heart of a destructive new epidemic. Reporter Matthew Carney takes his camera into a netherworld inhabited by hardcore "ice" addicts who live for their next hit | 20 March, 2006

STATEWIDE SUPPORT SERVICES

VICTORIA

Tabor House | Youth Withdrawal Unit | Uniting Care, Ballarat | www.unitingcareballarat.com.au

YoDAA - Youth Drugs and Alcohol Advice | 1800 458 685 | yodaa.org.au

SuicideLine | Free, anonymous support 24/7 | 1300 651 251 | suicideline.org.au

Family Drug Help - Family Drug Helpline | 1300 660 068 | sharc.org.au/program/family-drug-help

TASMANIA

Serenity House | Drug and alcohol time out service | Sulphur Creek | (03) 6435 4654 | www.citymission.org.au

Rural Health Tasmania Inc | Community centre funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing | Smithton | (03) 6452 1266 | www.ruralhealthtas.com.au

Alcohol and Drug Information Service | 1800 811 994 | A 24-hour telephone information and counselling line | 1800 811 994

QUEENSLAND

Queensland Health | Alcohol and Drug Information Service | Confidential telephone service | 1800 177 833

Use QFinder to find drug and alcohol health services | access.health.qld.gov.au/QFinder

Queensland Network of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies | Directory of Queensland services | www.qnada.org.au

NSW

Alcohol and Other Drugs Information Service | A confidential, anonymous information, advice and referral service | (02) 9361 8000 /1800 422 599

WHOS | We Help Ourselves | Resident Rehabilitation Service | www.whos.com.au

Odyssey House | Resident Rehabilitation Service | 02 9281 5144 | www.odysseyhouse.com.au

ACT

ACT Health | Directory of Alcohol and other Drug Services | health.act.gov.au

Alcohol and Other Drugs Helpline | Counselling and other treatment service | (02) 6207 9977

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

SA Health, Drug and Alcohol Services | Services and locations directory | www.sahealth.sa.gov.au

Telephone counselling and information | 8.30am and 10.00pm every day | 1300 13 1340

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Drug and Alcohol Office | Alcohol and Drug Information Service | 24 hour helplines | (08) 9442 5000/ 1800 198 024 | www.dao.health.wa.gov.au

Drug Aware | Online help and information | drugaware.com.au

Drug and Alcohol Service Directory | www.dao.health.wa.gov.au

NORTHERN TERRITORY

EASA- Alcohol and other drugs | Counselling services for people affected by alcohol and other drugs | 1800 193 123 | www.easa.org.au

Wurli Wurlinjang Health Service | Alcohol and other drugs counselling services, education and support | (08) 8972 9123 | www.wurli.org.au

Headspace Central Australia | National Youth and Mental Health Foundation | www.headspace.org.au