Anyone arrested for violent offences in the Northern Territory should be tested to see if they have taken the drug ice, a new report into the drug's impact on the NT has recommended.

The Breaking the Ice report was released on Thursday by a NT parliamentary committee made up of government, Labor and independent MLAs.

Key points: Breaking the Ice report looking at drug use in NT released

Breaking the Ice report looking at drug use in NT released Recommends compulsory ice tests for violent offenders

Recommends compulsory ice tests for violent offenders Seeks needle services and syringe vending machines

Seeks needle services and syringe vending machines Finds women increasingly using drug ice

The 163-page report also recommended the Government start testing waste water to determine the scope and spread of ice and pinpoint ice hotspots, and proposed boosting a police blitz encouraging Territorians to "dob in" drug dealers.

After-hours needle services and syringe vending machines should be set up in Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine and Alice Springs, to ensure sterile injecting equipment is available at all hours, it said.

The report comes after the Misuse of Drugs Bill was this week passed by Parliament, which gave police more powers to search cars for methamphetamines without reasonable suspicion.

In March this year the Government established a committee to investigate the scale of the ice problem in the NT, the effectiveness of government responses to the abuse of the drug, the social impacts of ice and how the drug is brought into the Territory.

The committee made 13 recommendations, which also included more funding for detoxification and rehabilitation services and to ensure those services were available in NT prisons.

Police training of how to handle the drug should also be boosted, the report said.

It called for mandatory drug testing of individuals arrested for violent offences and said that a working group should be established to develop a NT drug strategy similar to Australia's National Drug Strategy.

There should be online real-time monitoring of the sale of drugs containing pseudoephedrine (used to make ice), as well as an evaluation of drug diversionary programs, it said.

Young boys paid in ice to commit crimes

The committee heard reports highlighting the scourge of ice on young people.

"Young boys are being groomed to commit crimes and be paid for in 'ice', and young girls are being sexually groomed and asked to perform sexual acts to be paid for in ice," the report said.

Both NT Police and the Corrections Department told the committee that had been an increase in both the amount and severity of violent offences committed by ice users.

Police also gave evidence that there's frequently violence surrounding drug deals.

The idea to test anyone arrested for a violent offence had the support of the Australia Hotels Association and the Corrections Department.

More women using drug ice

The report said it was evident that while ice was present in regional centres in the NT, there was no clear evidence its use was widespread in remote communities.

In the report chief executive of the Banyan House drug and alcohol treatment centre, Chris Franck, said that there had been a shift in the demographics of people seeking help for the drug.

"In the past we probably would have had 90 per cent males with 10 per cent females," Mr Franck said.

"At this point of time we are about 60 per cent to 40 per cent," he said.

The report said the way people were using the drug had changed, and more people were now injecting the substance, rather than smoking it.

It also noted a number of barriers to treatment including waiting times for rehabilitation.

NT lacking strategy to tackle ice

Ice committee chairman Nathan Barrett said it appeared that ice usage was most prevalent in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs.

"What we did notice was lacking in the NT was a set strategy, an overarching strategy on drugs," Mr Barrett said.

He said one of the problems the committee faced was that much of the evidence about ice usage in the NT was anecdotal.