The Wimmera is caught up in the frightening escalation of this highly addictive stimulant.

The Mail-Times has teamed up with a wide variety of organisations across the Wimmera to raise awareness of this whole-of-community issue – it is something we cannot ignore.

IN his 12 years as a coach, Brendan Broadbent has seen his fair share of substance abuse in football clubs.

While plenty of players have experimented with alcohol, marijuana and amphetamines, it’s the rise of a particular drug that has Broadbent shining a light on an issue usually dealt with in-house.

The statistics are scarce, but a dramatic increase in police seizure of crystal methamphetamine and first-hand reports to the Wimmera Drug Action Taskforce show ice has well and truly infiltrated the region.

Experts predict it will get worse.

As a Senior Sergeant with Horsham police, Broadbent is exposed to substance abuse on a much greater scale than his fellow coaches.

But his decision to speak out about ice use in football clubs is not motivated by his occupation.

He wants to educate people about this dangerous and highly addictive drug in the hope it will prevent people from using it – or to encourage those who are using to ask for help.

“In the past three to four years I’ve been involved in coaching, there has been a small element of young men who try this particular type of drug,” Broadbent said.

“It is a particularly strong substance that does have a greater effect on the person than perhaps what some other substances have had in the past.

“Everyone has a few beers after the game, or even marijuana, but the impact of those substances on the individual’s performance is not particularly seen.

“With ice, the impact is definitely seen.”

Broadbent said one of the most obvious indicators of ice use on the football field was lacklustre performance.

“When people use ice their fitness levels are dramatically affected,” he said.

“You also see a change in the way they communicate with their team-mates. They become a little bit segregated and their commitment and attitude towards the sport that they started out loving drops away a lot.”

Broadbent said in his experience, people turned to drugs for a combination of reasons, including poor self-esteem, pressure of expectations, desire to experiment and falling in with the wrong crowd.

“I’m talking predominantly about football because that’s the area I’ve coached,” he said.

“It’s made up of predominantly young males, guys who seem to be bulletproof, coming into that 18 to 25 age group.

“They’re the type of people who will experiment. If that particular substance is available to them and it’s in front of them, they’re bound to try it.”

He said in some cases, those experimenters got in a lot deeper than they originally intended.

“It’s also a bit of an exciting lifestyle – there’s that adrenaline rush associated with evading police,” he said.

“I’ve noticed that through my work as a police officer as well. When it all comes crashing down and people get caught, that’s when they become understanding of where they were at in terms of substance abuse and what they were doing.

“Some people just can’t get out of it – they remain in that particular lifestyle.”

Broadbent said it was difficult as a coach to see such a waste of potential, both on and off the field.

But he said sporting clubs could be a shining light for people mixed up in substance abuse, particularly if the club had good role models on its committee and coaching staff.

“I’ve seen the football club I was involved with actually support a man who was involved with substance abuse,” he said.

“He became reunited with his family, got himself a job and was able to get out of that circle.

“That was a real positive thing the football club had on that particular person. The sporting side of it was a way for him to climb out of the vicious circle he was in at the time.”

Broadbent said while he did not believe ice use was rife in Wimmera football clubs, it was important to be aware it was happening.

“It’s up to clubs and coaches to be aware of it and to address that with the players when it happens,” he said.

“There is a way out by providing support and friendship to these people, giving them something else in life other than just them feeling that the only high they can get out of life is by using ice.

“What we’re trying to achieve here is to bring it out into the open to get as many people as we can to stand up and combat the proliferation of this particular substance in the Wimmera.

“It is being made, it is being distributed.

“If people want to stick their heads in the sand and think it’s not happening here, then they are well and truly going to be left behind when all of a sudden it does impact their club.”

 If you or someone you know needs help or advice phone Grampians Community Health on 5362 1200 or visit the team at 25 David Street, Horsham.