We Help Ourselves (WHOS) Hunter Valley – offers a four to six week residential treatment program and services the Hunter-New England area and, in some cases the Central Coast.

The organisation, which also has centres across NSW and Queensland, has 24 beds in Cessnock and there is a four- to six-week waiting list.

WHOS executive director Garth Popple said that he felt that the state government had ‘dropped the ball’ when it came to dealing with the ice issue.

“For us to deal with the demand, we’re estimating across the nation that we need  30% more beds,” he said. “Here in Cessnock that translates to needing an extra five or six beds – that’s not going to take care of the real demand but it will certainly be a start.

“The local health district is giving us the building but there has been no real input from the state government on beds since 1999 – since the NSW Drug Summit,” Mr Popple said.

“There’s been no real funding increase from those days, so we’re definitely leaning on the state government to put more beds in.”

Mr Popple added that the ice issue needed to be more of a priority.

"The supply of beds hasn’t kept up with the demand. If you look at all the regional hospitals around the country, you’ll see huge investment into hospital beds and intensive care beds, but very little with drugs and alcohol – particularly to address the ice issue.”

He said that while there had been a focus from both the state and federal governments on initiatives like counselling programs to deal with the issue, it was residential care that needed more attention.

“If you’ve got to the stage of using ice, not only smoking it but injecting it, you're no longer someone that’s going to keep a one hour appointment at a local health district counselling session once a fortnight because using drugs is your primary concern,” Mr Popple said.

“Residential treatment is almost like a respite to stop the downward spiral.”

“When you look at what it costs to run a bed in a non-government community residential treatment facility – anywhere from $150 to $200 per day, and look at what it costs when people are acting out in emergency departments – $300 for intensive care units or $1200 to $1500 for a hospital bed or $500 to $600 for a prison cell, we are such a cheap option.”

WHOS Hunter Valley manager Jamie Young agreed with Mr Popple’s sentiments.

“Ice users are very complex clients and when they put their hand up saying ‘I need help,” trying to marry them up with a rehab that’s got a bed is really, really hard.” 

State member for Cessnock Clayton Barr agreed with the push to get more beds into residential treatment centres, however he added that a whole new approach was needed.

“In 2018, we face an unprecedented situation because of ice,” he said.

“It has an incredible addictiveness from very early on.

“And that means it can can have a devastating outcome.”

Mr Barr pointed to a state Labor proposal, put forward in June this year, to open mandatory rehab and detox centres across the state

“Labor Opposition has a view that we should open at least six residential clinics with about 25 beds in each, prioritising that four of them would have to be in regional NSW,” he said.

“The medical profession tells us forcing someone into a rehab clinic is a waste of money because they have to be ready to take it on,” he said.

“However with ice, the families that I’ve sat with, their kids are just never sober – they’re never able to make that decision. 

“I appreciate the controversy, but ice is new so we’ve got to do something new.”