THE WOMEN on the FRONTLINE of ICE
THE MUM ON A MISSION
Based in Narooma on NSW’s South Coast, Michelle Preston co-founded the group ICE – Turning Family Pain Into Power to support the families of addicts. Her son Tysyn, 28, has been addicted to ice for a decade.
I can still remember the day when I thought I was doing a regular shop at the supermarket. My son Tysyn, who was 25, had texted me a few things, which I popped in the trolley. I looked at the list and thought, “Why does he need Drano, bleach, iodine and oven cleaner?”
It turned out I had sourced the ingredients for him to cook up a fresh batch of ice. With a gas cooker and a few glass dishes he was set.
He first tried ice at age 19 and has been addicted ever since. Ice is a drug like nothing we’ve ever seen – the impact can happen so fast. Other drugs take a lot longer for people to lose their way. It produces a sense of euphoria and the cravings are so strong that people quickly find they go from using once a week to every day. People fool themselves about how hard it hits them.
