Policing is an important element in the overall response but treatment, prevention and demand reduction are more important elements in the solution to deal with Australia's estimated 200,000 ice users.

The State Government does not have the answer because its emphasis is on law enforcement and not treatment or rehabilitation.

The solution will not be found in law enforcement alone, but in improved education, better treatment, support for families, improved harm reduction strategies and targeted help for affected communities.

The National Ice Action Strategy must concentrate on an overall response and not focus solely on law enforcement.

Rural and regional communities are reporting an explosion in use and users cannot secure treatment. Treatment centres have long waiting lists and court ordered treatment cannot be immediately undertaken by State health workers.

Our gaols are full of inmates with drug addiction problems who are not treated or rehabilitated whilst incarcerated. NSW Courts order ice users into rehabilitation programs all the time but there are no immediate vacancies in community facilities because of funding cuts and staff shortages.

On March 26, 2015 a psychologist based in Kempsey spent hours on the telephone making calls to get a 23-year-old ice addict into a drug rehabilitation program. The Kempsey Local Court had ordered the young woman ice addict into drug rehabilitation but there was nowhere for her to go and this is typical of the problem.

There are hundreds of ice addicts in Kempsey and thousands in the region of the Mid-North Coast but where are the treatment or rehabilitation facilities?

The Mid-North Coast Correctional Facility at Kempsey is not the place to go, because ice addicts are not criminals.

Brian Winship, Port Macquarie