The circuit of ice must be broken

MORE, not less, talk is needed around Perth's methamphetamine crisis. In this context, the comments from Melbourne magistrate Jennifer Bowles on the need for compulsory

residential rehabilitation for young ice addicts are welcome.

When young people come before her under child protection or offending circumstances, she wants to be able to order them " for their own health's sake " to a residential

therapeutic centre.

With education and intensive therapeutic work with qualified staff, they could make progress instead of the hit-and-miss option of attending a one-hour voluntary session a week from a drug counsellor.

It is another cost to governments and decisions would have to be made on the

location of such a centre. But given what the addiction is doing to the community and what Ms Bowles predicted on ABC radio, does the community have time to stall:

"People need to understand, young ice users are going to deplete the dopamine in their brain. And the concern is we are going to have a generation of people with Parkinson's-type symptoms. It's very concerning; we need to do something and have a circuit breaker."