Editorial
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It is pure evil. Crystal meth, or ice as it is commonly now known, has spread through society and left a trail of devastation in its wake.
Experts will tell you alcohol, alcohol abuse and the associated issues with alcohol still remain the biggest issue Australian society has to confront.
Yet there is something sinister about the impact the drug ice has on the users, their family, friends and everyone left in the wake. The drug eats away at the addict, tearing them apart physically and emotionally.
Their relationships crumble in the same fashion. In Saturday’s edition of the Illawarra Mercury we told you the ‘Cold, Hard Truth’.
It was a story, written by deputy editor Cydonee Mardon, which gave a deeply personal and deeply confronting story of a mother who is watching her son being ravaged by the evil drug.
Wollongong mum Cheryll Ellison bravely told her story. Cheryll did so not out of any other reason, but that it might help others.
“It's not just my story you're telling, it's the story of every parent of an addict,” she told the Mercury.
“Every parent is going through the same thing and it's a roller coaster ride of an unpredictable reality we ride along with them.”
Cheryll told of double deadlocking her own bedroom door to give her safety and some respite from the son she loves with all her heart, but she can no longer trust.
Any parent would be heartbroken on hearing her speak of her son with a sense of helplessness.
“I can't get any help for James when he's picking his eyeballs, when his ears are bleeding from picking his ear drums, when he can't walk so I call the police and have him locked up because I can't help him any other way,” Ms Ellison said.
Cheryll’s story is unfortunately one others will be able to relate too.
“Seeing your kid on drugs is heartbreaking, you know it's destroying their mind,” she said.
“There’s nobody out there that’s going to do this for me. I’m the only one who knows him, loves him and has the desire to try and rebuild him.”