Testing staff for ice
The situation with ice related crime has now started to affect the hospitality industry.
It’s now got to a point where employees on the Gold Coast are now being tested for ice addiction.
A Gold Coast eateries boss has told the Gold Coast Bulletin that ice-affected staff have become a real problem, much worse than bikes.
The operator, who the paper did not identify, said as a result he has started testing staff for ice-addiction.
I’m not concerned (about bikies),” he told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
“I’ve never had a problem with them.
“They come in, do the right thing, never cause problems.”
He said bikies were a problem but only part of a much bigger picture.
“We have more problems with ice addiction,” he said.
“I have had to fire heaps of staff because of ice.
“We have had a heap of problems with staff on ice and stealing money from us and things like that.”
According to the paper, ice addiction has become a real problem on the Gold Coast.
It has cited statistics showing ice arrests have skyrocketed from 372 in the 2008-2009 financial year to 1330 for 2015-16 and the number of people pushing the drug has gone from three in 2008-09, to 21 in the past financial year.
Gold Coast-based Australia Anti-Ice Campaign CEO Andrea Simmons said it is a real issue out there and employers are calling her every week to talk about ice-addicted staff and wanting to know how to deal with it.
“Owners have been contacting me and opening up,” she told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
“I have spoken to quite a few in the past few months and they are having huge problems in the hospitality industry with it.
“Ice doesn’t discriminate,” she said.
“It’s in hospitality, it’s in offices, it’s in business.”
by Leon Gettler, September 30th 2016
