By ANEEKA SIMONIS
Mum says she had to leave town to escape ice flood…
A FORMER ice addict said her only chance at escaping the drug was to leave Pakenham – a town she claims is “flooded” with ice.
The 35-year-old mum of four, who currently lives at her parents’ home in Cockatoo after years of emotional and physical abuse from a violent drug-dealing ex-partner, said the drug that ruined almost 10 years of her life was more accessible now than ever before.
“When I first started using with my then partner around seven years ago, it wasn’t easily available,” the woman, who did not wish to be named, said.
“We would have to go for an hour and half drive to get some.
“It wasn’t in your face all the time like it is now.
“Toward the end of our relationship two years ago, it was everywhere. It went from being one dealer per five people who use to maybe four dealers per every five users.
“It’s affordable and it’s flooding Pakenham – we had access 24/7.
“Even as I am sitting here, I have seen three people who have bought drugs from my ex,” she said barely 30 minutes after arriving at a Pakenham cafe.
The woman, whose four children are each under the age of 17, said she and her partner quickly went from recreational ice users to needing a hit each day.
“It became more of a day-to-day thing toward the end. And that’s when the abuse got worse. It was first verbal, emotional or financial abuse but then it became physical.
“He was physically stronger than me so when he did lash out, he did hurt me. I attacked him back. I felt very threatened.
“The police had to intervene on occasions and we have restraining orders against each other.”
The former ice user said she had been clean for the last four months but it was a difficulty journey spoiled with several relapses and emotional trauma.
“Towards the end of our relationship, I wanted to give up drugs. It just got out of control. We were spending all the money on drugs,” she said.
“When I stopped using, he just used the money to buy more. Then stuff would start going missing from the house. He pawned things like the video camera and the DVD player.
“He would do anything to score.
“There was a time I decided I needed to walk away from everyone. I told my friends if they were drug or alcohol affected, they couldn’t come around. No-one came around at all.”
“I thought ‘I’ve been good’, I will have a little party but that party ended up going for two or three months.
“The worst part about the addiction is that I’d go out for the weekend and I wouldn’t come home for five days.”
Pakenham’s top cop Senior Sergeant Trevor Teer told the Pakenham Gazette that ice had reached “plague proportions” across Cardinia shire.
“Ice is really bad… people are using party drugs, like ice, because it’s cheap and easy to get,” he said.
Recent crime statistics found that from October 2013 to September 2014, drug offences in the shire were up 43 per cent from the previous year.
“Take one dealer off the street and there will be five replacing him within the hour,” the woman said.
“And they’re using young people to distribute it. I’ve seen people as young as 19.”
The former ice user warned people against the highly addictive drug.
“You don’t want to become addicted,” she said.
“It’s like going to a carnival and being on a ride. You could be on the ride heaps of times and have heaps of fun but then there can be a time you get on the same ride and, when it starts up, you start to feel sick and you’re in a panic and you’re screaming out for the guy to stop the ride but he won’t.
“You need to make sure you want to be on that ride because once you’re on it, it’s very hard to get off.”
The woman thanked Pakenham police’s Family Violence Unit which safely removed her from her squalid home in Pakenham earlier this year.
