More people are being arrested for the possession and use of amphetamines such as ice in New South Wales, latest crime statistics show.
In the past year, the number of arrests for possession increased by 36.3%, the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (Bocsar) said in a report on Thursday, while the number of arrests for amphetamine dealing rose by 27.6%.
Much of the increase came from regional NSW as well as parts of Sydney.
The NSW police commissioner, Andrew Scipione, said the numbers reflected increased police work in ice and amphetamine crimes, but also that “there’s far too much ice in circulation”.
With most major offences, including robberies and break and enters, trending downwards, the commissioner was asked why a rise in drug offences had not translated into a rise in other crimes.
The commissioner said a usage rate of 1% is now on par with the country’s heroin epidemic in the late 90s when there was a sudden and “enormous” impact on crime.
“What likely impact if this continues where we have 1% of the community using and what the impact might be on crime is something that we’re all bracing ourselves for.
“The difference between ice and heroin is clear: take heroin and it puts you to sleep. When you take ice it keeps you going for five days.”
The bureau director, Don Weatherburn, called the continued growth in arrests for amphetamine-related offences “a matter of concern”, but highlighted a few key differences from the heroin epidemic.
Weatherburn said although there are a large number of amphetamine users, a smaller proportion are drug-dependent. He also suspects most users are paying out of pocket for the drugs, rather than turning to crime.
He attributed the absence of a rise in theft to a decline in the secondhand goods market, in comparison to the peak of the heroin epidemic in 2000. “We don’t have hugely valuable portable goods – these days you steal an iPhone and you’d have trouble getting rid of it,” he said.
Weatherburn also said the demographics for amphetamine users differed from heroin users, who tended to be young and unemployed.
“A lot of people using amphetamines are middle-class, party people and truckies. Not the kind of people who know how to do break and enters,” he said.
A 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) found that while the number of users in Australia remained stable in the preceding four years, the type of amphetamine people used had switched from powder (speed) to crystal (ice).
Use of ice has also increased among people who inject drugs, according to another national survey conducted by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), and the shift to ice has also coincided with an increase in amphetamine-related harm, according to an analysis in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Another report produced by NDARC revealed amphetamine-related hospitalisations have also increased over time, peaking in 2011-12.
On 8 April the federal government announced the formation of a national taskforce to deal with the “growing problem” of ice, saying the drug destroys lives, ravages families and damages communities.
