It is well documented that ice, or methamphetamine, is the illicit drug of choice on our streets.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
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.
BEGGING your boyfriend not to shoot himself while ‘off his guts’ on ice is far from the making of a fairytale romance.
But for one Wimmera woman, who wants to remain anonymous, it was a harsh reality.
Her boyfriend was hooked on crystal methamphetamine, a highly addictive and destructive stimulant known as ice.
Destructive not only for the ice user, but for their family and friends.
Ice – the purest form of amphetamine available – made the man paranoid and suicidal.
His girlfriend watched him unravel as he distanced himself from his family.
“For me to have to take a gun off him and say ‘don’t hurt yourself, I love you’ was terrible,” the woman said.
“It got to the point where one day I thought he would do it and not even mean it.
“I would say ‘what am I going to do without you, you can’t do this to me’.
“I knew deep down that he didn’t want to do it but I thought one of these days it was going to happen.”
Looking back, the woman said the eight months her boyfriend spent using ice were a whirlwind.
Initially she was unaware he was taking the drug.
She knew something was wrong but couldn’t pinpoint the cause of his dramatic change.
“I look back now and I don’t know what happened in those months – every day was spent worrying about him,” she said.
“I can’t believe how oblivious I was to it.
“We, his family and I, contemplated a lot of things – whether it was bipolar or other things – and didn’t want to believe it even when we finally knew what was going on.”
The woman was forced to leave her boyfriend because the stress had taken its toll.
“My family was worried about me because I wasn’t coping and I was not well,” she said.
“It really hurt me that he thought I didn’t want to be with him but he was too worried about me and not about himself.
“I didn’t want it to end the way it did but I had to leave.”
After the man kicked his ice habit, the couple rekindled their relationship.
He is now drug-free and has fortnightly meetings with Grampians Community Health.
The woman said her boyfriend was an example for ice users on how they could turn their lives around.
“People need to be willing to make the change themselves, and if you have people to support you, it is possible,” she said.
“I was shocked at how quickly he was putting on weight and starting to look normal again.
“In the first six months we were back together, it was hard to get the relationship I had with him, and with his family, back.
“It has been hard and it still is hard. I am just grateful he is back to being his normal self.
“Things are going great now with him and his family – it has made us all stronger and appreciative of each other.”
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.