And so begins the special commission of inquiry's 1261-page report into ice - and all its variants - derived from the testimony received via hundreds of expert submissions and public and private hearings held across the state over the past 14 months.

The report, released on Thursday, paints a chilling picture of the devastating effects that ice is having in our homes, communities, hospitals and courts. In fact, there are few areas in society where the tentacles of amphetamine-type stimulants haven't penetrated.

The inquiry's commissioner, Professor Dan Howard SC, writes in the report that Australia has the "highest rate of amphetamine dependence in the world" and crystal methamphetamine "has become the major illicit drug of concern in NSW, second only to alcohol in the social and economic harms it causes".

So, what do we do about it?

Professor Howard states quite clearly that it is "imperative" law enforcement agencies continue to "target the supply of illicit drugs and punish supply, manufacture and other serious drug-related and drug-fuelled crimes with the force of the criminal law".

However, he prosecutes a compelling case that in regards to the offences of use and possession for personal use, a more "nuanced" approach - one that emphasises compassion over a reflexive desire to punish those who use drugs - is the only way forward.

"Criminalising use and possession encourages us to stigmatise people who use drugs as the authors of their own misfortune," Professor Howard writes.

"It gives us tacit permission to turn a blind eye to the factors driving most problematic drug use: trauma, childhood abuse, domestic violence, unemployment, homelessness, dispossession, entrenched social disadvantage, mental illness, loneliness, despair and many other marginalising circumstances that attend the human condition."

Do our communities have the appetite for an approach to illicit drugs that some will no doubt try to characterise as "soft"? And do our politicians have the courage to not only accept but actually enact the 109 recommendations contained in the report in the face of frequent calls for increasingly tougher penalties for drug-related crimes?

It is an ominous sign that the NSW government has already shot down five recommendations - related to supervised injecting rooms, pill testing, ceasing the use of drug detection dogs, and needle and syringe programs in correctional centres, - while the remaining 104 are "being considered by the government in consultation with stakeholders".

More of the same is not acceptable. We need to listen to the people on the frontline and be brave enough to put into practice the recommendations they say give us the best chance of minimising this problem.

Otherwise, it will only get worse.

All the best for the week ahead,

Ross Tyson, editor