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Going beyond the statistics and headlines, Walkley Award-winning journalist Malcolm Knox explores the human cost of crystal methamphetamine - 'Ice' - and the escalating crisis in Australia.

Description
An act of violence while on crystal meth seems to burst boundaries; the perpetrator keeps on hitting and hitting, not knowing why, just going on beyond any purpose or restraint, repeating the action as mindlessly as playing cards or popping Sudafeds out of blister packs.

Crystal methamphetamine. Crystal meth. Crystal. Ice. A drug that came out of nowhere and instantly turned things upside down: for users, their families, police, healthcare workers and victims of the random, hyper-violent crimes that are the mark of ice. Nearly 1 in 10 Australians have tried ice.

Scattered is the word coined by some users to describe the trance-like ferocity that can accompany an ice binge, escalating common crime to a terrifying level of violence. According to support workers on the front line, official statistics have yet to recognise that users have trebled over the last two years and hospital admissions for ice-related psychosis more than doubled.

Walkley award-winning journalist Malcolm Knox examines the ice problem in Australia from the points of view of users, dealers, police, lawyers, doctors, pharmacists and families affected by the drug. Each story he tells goes beyond the statistics and headlines to explore the human cost of ice and to consider its future in Australia.

'I don't know in the time I've been a policeman, which is 41 years, of a greater scourge on the community. The physical and mental manifestations of ice are absolutely horrific. It has the potential to destroy generations.' - Former NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney

About Malcolm Knox
Malcolm Knox is the author of three novels, Summerland, A Private Man, and most recently, Jamaica. Summerland was also published by Picador US and Bloomsbury UK, who also published A Private Man. Malcolm was formerly literary editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, where he broke the Norma Khouri hoax story, for which he won a Silver Walkley Award with Caroline Overington. He is also the author of Secrets of the Jury Room, a non-fiction account of his time as a juror, and a history of the jury system. He lives in Sydney.