Councillor Brian Ingram - who has taken the front foot on the issue -  addressed Wednesday’s monthly meeting, reiterating his concerns which reflect that of many people in the community.

Cr Ingram said he was surprised by senior constable Peter Guthrie’s comments in The Young Witness (Friday, December 12)  that Young’s drug crime was no worse than any other town in the command. 

“If that’s his answer I would suggest his whole command has a big problem,” Cr Ingram said.

“I don’t think that is an answer that is acceptable to anyone.”

He said he had, in the past week, been in contact with the Mildura council which had implemented an acclaimed awareness campaign around the use of methamphetamine, “Project Ice Mildura”, and hoped Young could take a similar approach. 

Cr Ingram said he had been spurred on to take action after discussions with locals in town and his own observations. 

Councillor John McGregor also voiced his concerns regarding the prevalence of ice in Young at the monthly meeting.

He said detectives had told him even after a large bust, methamphetamine rapidly found its way back into town. 

“The detectives showed me a photo of a woman they’d arrested for a big drug haul in town they thought they would stop a lot of motions, [but] within three days there were two or three new outlets.. so I think that councillor Ingram is right on the spot,” Cr McGregor said. 

Inspector Ashley Holmes, of Young Police, said that while “ice” was a problem gripping all country towns, he believed the problem was more prominent in Young compared with surrounding communities.

“Young has a relatively young population compared to Cootamundra and Tumut so I would expect our drug problem to be slightly larger than theirs,” he said.

He said police would be keen to work with council and community organisations on general awareness and prevention campaigns.

“In fact I was at a meeting at the hospital about a fortnight ago where we all talked about a whole community response,” Inspector Holmes said.