Drug regulations work to cut ‘ice’ use

Regulations that control chemicals used to make the drug 'ice' work, but they come at a cost, according to new research published today in the journal Addiction. Lead author Rebecca McKetin from the Centre for Mental Health Research at The Australian National University said the paper reviewed the results of credible studies on the impacts of what are known as 'precursor regulations'. These regulations control access to the chemicals used to make ice, including pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in cold-and-flu tablets. "There is strong evidence that these regulations can work," McKetin said. "Research studies conducted in North America show that precursor regulations can reduce methamphetamine-related problems by up to 77 per cent." Methamphetamine, aka 'ice' is a highly addictive drug that affects somewhere between 14 and 53 million people globally. The drug is notorious for causing psychosis, leading to paranoia and outbursts of aggressive behaviour in users. "Methamphetamine use is a long-standing problem in Australia, where we have one of the highest rates of use in the developed world, although this has declined over the past few years.