First Nations health service contests claims of ice use in remote communities

A First Nations health service in South Australia says claims of an ice crisis in remote Indigenous communities are overblown and could harm the fight against drugs. The APY Lands in the far north-west of South Australia, the Nganampa Health Service covers eight remote clinics and the director says if the drug ice was being widely used in the region, the clinics would probably know.

12 November 2014 - ABC AM

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

CHRIS UHLMANN: An Indigenous health service in South Australia says claims of an ice crisis in remote Indigenous communities are overblown and could harm the fight against drugs.

University of Melbourne Professor Marcia Langton recently told The Australian newspaper she'd heard many reports of crystal methamphetamine use in remote Indigenous communities.

But she's been accused by a Northern Territory politician of generalising about all Indigenous remote communities to win support for a major welfare change.

Sara Everingham reports.

SARA EVERINGHAM: On the APY Lands in the far north-west of South Australia, the Nganampa Health Service covers eight remote clinics. The director John Singer says if the drug ice was being widely used in the region, the clinics would probably know.

JOHN SINGER: And as far as I know we've had no reports of ice use amongst Anangu in the APY lands.

SARA EVERINGHAM: Last month the Melbourne University academic Marcia Langton told The Weekend Australia newspaper, "We heard many reports of ice or methamphetamines in remote communities. Whereas it was once marijuana and Kava," she said, "now there is a youth epidemic of amphetamine use."

Her comments were based on consultations while working on the review of Indigenous affairs by mining magnate Andrew Forrest. He has backed Marcia Langton's statements about ice, saying she spent countless days reviewing the information and that her academic reputation is beyond reproach.

But John Singer fears her comments could make it harder to deal with the problems his clinics already know about, such as marijuana and alcohol abuse. He says they also won't help if ice takes hold.

JOHN SINGER: It does put people off, in terms of if you want to make a change, if you want to do things in remote areas, you need to take people with you on that journey as a collective.

And automatically now people are on the defensive in the communities because they see these sort of extreme headlines with no real basis or evidence.

The peak body for the Aboriginal-run medical services in the Northern Territory says there are serious concerns about ice in urban areas such as Alice Springs and Darwin, where a community meeting was held about a month ago to discuss it.

The chief executive John Paterson says he fears the drug could end up in remote Indigenous communities but has not heard about widespread use there for now.

JOHN PATERSON: It is a major concern to the Aboriginal community, particularly in Darwin. I don't know how widespread. I am not hearing too much from our remote communities at this point in time, but that's not to say that, you know, it might be finding its way out there.

SARA EVERINGHAM: Ted Wilkes is a Perth-based drug and alcohol researcher and the chairman of the National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee. He says there's a lack of solid evidence about ice use in remote Indigenous communities.

TED WILKES: I say to many Australians, this is a thing where not one size fits all, where some communities are more vulnerable and others may well and truly be safe.

But if we were to create a hysteria or a knowledge that Aboriginal Australians throughout Australia are using drugs of this nature, it would certainly be an unknown. We don't know what the evidence is. We need to make sure we get the evidence before we start saying things like this.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Associate Professor Ted Wilkes ending Sara Everingham's report.