It comes as a Riverina drug counsellor revealed young people are prostituting themselves out to fuel their addiction to ice. 

Wagga’s Calvary Riverina Drug and Alcohol Centre general manager Brendan McCorry said the ease of access to ice, in both price and production, had triggered a spike in regional use.

“We are experiencing more trans-generational use because ice is more readily available,” he said.

“Ice is more easily produced and the experience of the drug – its longer effect and the kind of effect can lead to more prevalent use.

“Our feedback is that people are saying the price drop is more to do with poor quality of the drug currently available.”

Griffith alcohol and drugs counsellor Sid Barone confirmed ice was cheaper than it ever had been.

“We’ve heard it being as low as $30 a point (one tenth of a gram),” he said. “The regular price now is $50 when it used to be $100.”

Mr Barone said amphetamine abuse was “getting progressively worse”. “We know anecdotally of young girls and boys selling themselves in Griffith in sexual favours in return for money or the drug itself,” he said.

Mr Barone said other users sold ice to family and friends to fuel their addiction, while other chronic abusers of the drug turned to crime. 

It comes as the federal government handed down in its budget a $300 million four-year action plan on ice addiction, focussing on prevention.