Ice a spiralling problem in the NT
At age 18 Chris was saving up to buy a house but blew his down payment on ice instead.
"I spent $10,000 to $15,000 on ice last year, which was money I was supposed to save up to buy a house with; that's all gone down the drain," he said.
The teenager from Katherine recently emerged from a drug spiral that began after a bad relationship and break-up, and last week finished two months of rehabilitation at Darwin's Banyan House.
"The feeling of it: you feel invincible, unstoppable, you feel like you're a king," Chris said.
He described lying to his friends and ripping them off to feed his habit, keeping it a secret from his mother as he went on benders for a week or two without sleeping, hallucinating and losing about 12kg.
"I've seen a few people that are not even in this world ... I don't want to be known as that person when I die," Chris said, describing his ambition to become a police officer, a youth worker or to join Norforce.
The National Ice Taskforce was in Darwin on Wednesday to tour Banyan House and hear from local service providers about the escalating problem of ice, or methylamphetamine.
Banyan House's executive director Chris Franck said the number of people seeking treatment for ice addiction has soared 165 per cent over the past year.
"It's by far the largest increase we've had," he said.
Andrew Thompson lost his brother three years ago when he committed suicide two years after becoming addicted to ice.
His brother was 35 and was married with four children.
"He had it one night with his mates and continued to take it; he lost his mates, lost everything, just destroyed," Mr Thompson said.
"(Addicts) change their whole personality, they lose their jobs, they start selling everything they own to get that fix."
Mr Franck said ice did not discriminate, and said Banyan House's current patients included engineers, teachers, doctors and lawyers.
Taskforce member Professor Richard Murray said it was becoming apparent that empowering local communities would be the best way to treat the problem.
"(Families) are frightened - they're frightened for their younger children, they're frightened for the person who's using, they're worried that seeking help might in some way lead people into trouble with the law," he said.
But there is plenty of help available, said Ngaree Ah Kit from the Darwin Region Suicide Prevention Network.
"There's a tipping scale of how much (stress) you can take and how draining it can be for everybody," she said.
"We need to make sure we have a community of strong, healthy, resilient people (who can) help those using ice."
The taskforce will present their interim report to the prime minister next month.
* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467
