Although the prevalence of amphetamines like “ice” has become more common amongst young teens, the Baird government plans to axe funding to the Ted Noffs Foundation, an organisation that provides services to drug and alcohol-affected school students.
The Ted Noffs Foundation
The program was started in 1970 by Reverend Ted Noffs – who also established the first 24 hour crisis centre, the first Drug Referral Centre and co-founded the Aboriginal Affairs Foundation in 1962.
The Foundation provides a range of programs and services for young people and their families, including: counselling to students to help them overcome drug dependency issues, promoting retention of children in school and help those suspended to return to school as soon as possible.
It also provides educaion to make sure teens are equipped with knowledge of drugs, preventing a relapse and skills for dealing with peer pressure.
Currently, the NSW government spends $322,500 on the program, which it has funded since 1999.
But this funding will stop at the end of this month, and there will be zero funding in 2015.
The government has tried to justify the move by saying that schools will still be able to access the services offered by the Foundation – albeit using their own funds.
The growing use of ice
Ice has been called the ‘new heroin’ and it is extremely addictive.
It has been around for more than a decade but is now starting to come to a head.
The Salvation Army has seen the number of people coming to use their recovery services program increase by 122 per cent in the last four years.
In recent years, concerns that some social workers have surrounding the use of ice have outstripped their concerns about alcohol and other drugs.
This is particularly the case for young people, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The rate of methamphetamine-induced hospitalisations for the 10-19 year old category has been growing consistently in recent years.
There are particular concerns for those living in rural communities where the drugs have infiltrated towns where bored youths turn to them for a way-out.
Wellington, a rural community in regional NSW, has even been nicknamed ‘little Antarctica’ because of all the ice there.
50 per cent of all the teens coming to the Ted Noffs Foundation for help are seeking treatment for ice addiction, making it the most common drug.
The Foundation has helped over 1000 students from 24 different schools struggling with drug and alcohol problems.
Time for another Drug Summit?
The Drug Summit in 1999 was instrumental in turning around the serious drug problem.
It improved the understanding of politicians and triggered many new approaches to prevent drug use, including legislative changes.
We are still seeing the benefits of the Summit, with less drug-related deaths and fewer ambulances attending the scenes of overdoses than in the late 1990s.
It was also at this time when the first NSW Drug Court was introduced, diverting drug users from the criminal justice system and into rehabilitation.
However, some say that ice is a game-changer, threatening to undo the positives that were achieved over a decade ago.
Mr Noffs, amongst others including the Salvation Army, has called on the NSW government to hold another Drug Summit, and the NSW government has responded that there may be one next year.
Baird wants Tony Abbott to call a national summit, but in the meantime it appears that there will be less resources to deal with a growing problem.
These school programs that educate teens are not the only area to be experiencing funding cuts.
Another drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, The Glen, in the Hunter Valley was forced to close its 30-bed facility after funding cuts and are now struggling to keep up with the demand for their services.
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