The forum, which was funded by a grant from the Australian Drug Foundation.

“Based on the evaluation, our Keynote speaker, Crios O’Mahoney from the Penington Institute was a great success with one respondent referring to him as a “cool dude”!

“Another attendee recommended that he would be an ideal speaker to address school age students because of his honest and straight forward manner,” Heather said.

While acknowledging the seriousness of Ice use, Crios also highlighted that alcohol was still the number one drug causing harm in our communities and also spoke of the rise in over doses caused by prescription drugs.

Local presenters, Dr Tom Douch, Sonia Ingall and Superintendent Christopher Schilt were also very well received.

Dr Douch gave a realistic picture of the role of a GP.

He emphasised that while we may not have access to all the services that we would like in Young, it was important that we work together as a community to get in early to avoid people getting into trouble with drugs.

Sonia Ingall’s presentation highlighted some alternatives that are available on-line for people wanting information on how to deal with using or misusing a particular drug or substance.

“On-line information is an ideal way for people to seek help who may not want to see someone in their local community,” Sonia said.

“Attendees were also very impressed with our new local area commander Christopher Schilt,” Heather said.

“People expressed their opinion that he gave an honest view of what the police can and can’t do in responding to the communities concerns.”

A highlight of the event was the announcement of a new service “Pathways Murrumbidgee” which is providing an outreach service from Wagga Wagga to Young, Cootamundra and Tumut. It has been specifically funded to provide help to people and their families affected by Ice.