THE mother of a teenager addicted to ice has spoken about her desperate struggle and called on parents to educate themselves about drugs.
The woman, who is not being named for her protection, said she “spied” on her son after she discovered his drug use.
“I was shocked at how much ice was in this area,” she said.
The mother, whose son was featured previously by the Redland City Bulletin, said she also realised how little support there was for addicts and their families.
“What I have learned is there’s no help, no hope and no resources for parents in this area.”
She said ice was very affordable for teenagers.
“It’s cheaper than drinking and it’s easier to get than alcohol,’’ she said.
“You can get same day delivery. You can organise it and pick it up in an hour.”
She said the consequences of drug addiction on families were scary.
They have had to sell their house and move because dealers were threatening them, their son was tortured with a knife over a debt and a 10-year-old sibling was beaten up because his brother owed money.
Earlier this year a man barged inside their house and said he would not leave until a debt had been paid.
“It’s been such a struggle,” she said. “It’s like living a nightmare that you never wake up from.”
The woman said she became aware of her son’s addiction after his school work started to suffer.
“The school contacted us and said there had been drug-taking at the school and that he had been involved in it.”
She later discovered that he had been using drugs for more than a year before they found out.
“We didn’t see the signs because we didn’t know what we were looking for and we didn’t realise that ice is odourless,” she said.
Her son would hide ice in power sockets, light fittings and air conditioner vents.
“He was using ice in the bathroom, in the toilets at our house and pretty much anywhere.”
She said dealers would lure school children and once addicted they would do anything for the next hit.
Her son had talked about feeling superhuman and god-like when he took ice.
“That’s what hooks the kids in,” she said, adding that once they were addicted they would do anything for it.
“When he told me he loves the drug more than us (his parents), that just killed me. It stabbed me in the heart.”
The mother said her son had been brought up in a loving home, was good at sport and played two musical instruments.
“He had the world at his feet. He’s so talented and drugs have taken everything away from him.”
When she saw him recently he had been awake for three days and was “such a mess”.
“I said to him ‘please just come here...I want to give you a cuddle’ and he just started crying. He can’t get off the drugs.
“He said ‘the son you know, mum, and love, he’s gone and he’s never coming back’,” she said.
“Sometimes I see snippets of my son and that’s beautiful, but the majority of the time I just see the drug addict.”
Over the years the teenager took his parent’s cars, crashing one, to get drugs and recently stole electronic equipment from them.
A few months ago he phoned his parents asking them to fetch him.
“We thought he had hit rock bottom,” she said.
“He had no shoes on. He had sold his shoes. He didn’t have a hat. He had sold his hat. He had sold everything. He was as thin as anything.”
But she said it wasn’t long before he started to steal from them again.
“It’s like a kick in the face. It’s really soul destroying.”
The mother warned of the dangers of using drugs, partly because of what is added to the ice.
At just 17, her son has the first stages of emphysema, his teeth are rotten and he gets stomach cramps because of poisons added to the drugs.
“We took him to the doctor and his body’s eating itself because (drain cleaner in the drugs) has corroded his stomach,” she said.
“These are the things parents need to be aware of and kids need to be aware of.”
The mother also warned that teenagers were taking codeine mixed with energy or soft drinks.
She said parents of addicts were often criticised and judged.
“We as parents feel so much shame. We’ve questioned ourselves so many times.
“The message I want to get out there is for parents to be kind to yourselves and not feel shame because it’s not your fault,” she said.
Sheldon-based drug addiction specialist and former police officer Georgia Phillips said ice addiction was a problem throughout Australia and it affected wealthy adults as well as children still at school.
“About half of our clients are the elite from areas like Raby Bay and the other half schoolchildren,” she said.
However, she said alcohol topped the list of addictions because it was easily available.
She said their support groups for people with addictions and their family members focused on the underlying cause of any addiction.
“Addiction is not about ice, alcohol or relationships. It’s about the person and the pain they are experiencing.”
