FLYING SQUAD TO BLITZ 'ICE'

THE Federal Government will establish an international "flying squad"
of elite police to target the production of the drug "ice" both in
Australia and the region. The new Federal Police squad will be
announced by Prime Minister John Howard today as part of an
additional $150 million over four years to boost the Government's
tough-on-drugs strategy.

The move follows revelations late last year that use of the dangerous
street drug in South Australia increased by an alarming 20 per cent
over the past 12 months.

Police also blamed the addictive drug for an increase in violent
crime in 2006, with users often committing offences to sustain their habits.

While the trend has been seen across almost all states and
territories, SA has recorded the largest usage increase, according to
the annual surveys of illicit drug availability, price, quality and
demand, by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.

The ice problem had also had an impact on health care with violent or
agitated drug users segregated from other patients under a Health
Department plan to ease the strain they are putting on hospital
emergency departments.

The facilities were designed to take users out of public areas at all
major hospitals.

Mr Howard's package will also include additional funding to buy
state-of-the-art drug detection equipment for the customs service.

As well as other drugs this equipment will pick up both the
importation of ice and, critically, its components such as pseudoephedrine.

Some of the largest ice "factories" supplying Australia are located
in South-East Asian countries such as Indonesia. The new
international Federal Police squad, to be known as the Regional
Deployment Team, will aim to intercept the drug before it reaches the
local market.

The team will operate through an international liaison officer
network and will actually go to regional sites of drug production if
the case requires it.

Drug Beat SA chief executive Eric Faschingbauer welcomed the move,
saying ice was a "huge problem".

"We support any initiative by the Government to reduce the supply of
ice. It's a destructive drug," he said.

The package to be announced by Mr Howard will also include additional
money for the Australian Crime Commission aimed at improving its
technical communications interception capabilities.

The strategy will involve three main planks - rehabilitation,
education and greater law enforcement - and adds to the $1.3 billion
the Government has already spent on the tough-on-drugs strategy first
unveiled in 1997.

Mr Howard has been impressed by the statistics over that period. The
percentage of illicit drug users has fallen from 22 per cent of the
population to 15 per cent, the number of cannabis users has dropped
from 18 per cent to 11 per cent and the number of heroin deaths has
also dropped from 1100 a year a decade ago to 374 in 2005.

Police have also seized a total of 14 tonnes of illicit drugs over the decade.

The package to be unveiled by the Prime Minister follows an
announcement by Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd last week that an
incoming Labor Government would ban the importation of ice implements
along with the over-the-counter sale of pseudoephedrine to minors.