Tiffany Stone struggled with a severe ice (methamphetamine) addiction for years, using up to six points per day. Her addiction led to health and skin issues, paranoia, and the loss of custody of her three daughters. Her family watched helplessly as her addiction took over. Tiffany has now entered a rehabilitation facility called The Ice Meltdown Project. Her family is hopeful the treatment will be successful and they can get the "old Tiffany" back. A local doctor also expressed the need for more support services to help ice addicts in the region recover.

1. SNNEWS SHEPPARTON NEWS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014 7
Hoping for recoveryFAMILY WANTS ‘OLD TIFFANY’ BACK AFTER WATCHING HER BATTLE SIX-POINT-A-DAY ICE ADDICTION FOR YEARS
By ELAINE COONEY
Mother’s heartbreak: Michelle Stone holds a picture of her daughter Tiffany, who is in a
Gippsland rehabilitation facility. Main picture: Ray Sizer
In recovery: Tiffany Stone before she went to to a Gippsland
rehabilitation facility (left) and after four days off ice (right).
I’M A MORTICIAN BY TRADE AND I DID NOT WANT TO BURY MY
DAUGHTER AND IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN THIS YEAR.
— MICHELLE STONE
‘‘She had scabs on her
face, her skin was a yucky
grey colour and she looked
awful.’’
That’s how Tatura mum
Michelle Stone described
her daughter Tiffany, 24,
before she went to a Gipps-
land rehabilitation facility
for ice addiction this
month.
As we looked at old
photos of this beautiful wo-
man with jet-black shiny
hair, glowing skin and a
beaming smile, it was hard
to imagine she could look
anything less than stun-
ning.
‘‘That’s what I want to get
back,’’ Michelle said, look-
ing lovingly at the photo
with tears welling up.
‘‘I’m a mortician by trade
and I did not want to bury
my daughter and it was
going to happen this year.
‘‘We’re from a good family
and they think it’s so
shameful, but if it can
happen to us, it can happen
to everyone.’’
Tiffany’s older sister Bec
said Tiffany was using six
points of ice a day — and
explained that usually one
point saw someone through
24 hours.
‘‘She was on it every day,
all day,’’ she said.
Tiffany said she stole
goods and sold them, made
new friends at the pokies
and asked them for money
to fund her ice addiction.
She never turned to pros-
titution, but knew many
women who did.
When she first tried ice at
16, she almost died.
‘‘I smoked a bit too much
and the next day when I was
shopping my heart stop-
ped,’’ she said.
‘‘I saw a black tunnel and I
prayed to God and he
released me.
‘‘It did scare me and I
went off it.’’
A few years later she
began using ice regularly
and became a daily user in
August 2012.
‘‘I loved everything about
the drug — the rush, the
taste, the crack pipe and the
smell of the smoke,’’ she
said.
She said the main nega-
tive side-effect of the drug
was having her three daugh-
ters taken away by the
Department of Human
Services.
The children are in Mich-
elle’s care.
Tiffany said she was going
through the detox and rehab
for herself and her children.
‘‘I imagine if I had them
back, it would be perfect . . .
the way it should be,’’ she
said. ‘‘My body was s**t, I
was not eating and the para-
noia was out of control and
scary.’’
When she had her weekly
meal, it consisted of a
packet of noodles.
Bec said Tiffany once
threatened to slit her throat
and followed her to her
bedroom and stabbed the
door.
When Tiffany spoke to
The News, she had been off
ice for three days and due to
heavy medication was ‘‘feel-
ing really good’’.
‘‘(If I didn’t get to the
rehab) I would probably
be dead or getting on
more drugs on my way
to death,’’ she said.
Bec was beaming when
she scrambled for her phone
— it was a voice recording of
Tiffany at the detox facility,
laughing.
‘‘I have not heard my sister
laughing since (her middle
daughter) was born,’’ she
said.
Her younger sister Jacinta
said she tried to reason with
Tiffany so many times and
get her to think about her
children and while she said
she understood, Jacinta
believed she was just telling
her what she wanted to
hear.
Jacinta said Tiffany was
not interested in any other
topic but ice.
‘‘She could not have a
conversation with you
unless it was about ice,’’ she
said.
‘‘She just talks over you. I
couldn’t be in the same
room as her in the end.’’
Jacinta is hopeful the
rehabilitation will be
successful and the family
will get ‘‘the old Tiffany’’
back.
THE ICE MELTDOWN PROJECT
Tiffany is in a new detox and
rehabilitation facility called
The Ice Meltdown Project in
Drouin, Gippsland.
The organisation says it is a
‘‘group of ordinary people
from an ordinary community
that are seeing so many
lives being affected by the
use of drugs in our local
area’’.
When Michelle was having
difficulty seeking help for
Tiffany she found the group
on Facebook.
The Ice Meltdown Project
volunteer Louise Campbell
said all the staff were
volunteers and medication
was given by general
practitioners.
Bec, Tiffany’s older sister,
described the facility as a
cottage of a 1900s-era with
beautiful high ceilings and
polished floorboards.
Tiffany was staying in a
nearby hotel and Ms
Campbell said she was in
24-hour care.
The team said Tiffany was
being treated by a qualified
drug and alcohol counsellor
and a nurse.
The Ice Meltdown Project is
running under the mission of
the church with The
Reverend Amy Turner, from
Anglican Parish of Drouin.
Ms Turner is also a police
chaplain who works closely
with Warragul Police youth
liaison officer Leading
Senior Constable Kevin
McLaren.
The facility is not receiving
any funding.
● To contact the centre,
phone 0474 795 129,
email theicemeltdown
project@gmail.com or
find it on Facebook.
STRUCTURED APPROACH NEEDED
A doctor has called for more
services to help ice addicts
in the region.
Dr Chris Clerigo, who was
treating Tiffany, said it
would be a good idea for a
detox facility to be made
available in Shepparton
because of the high rate of
drug use in the city.
He said the system set up to
help ice addicts was not
efficient and he questioned
the waiting time for
services.
‘‘I would like to see more
support workers and
hospital-based detox and
someone they can talk to
when they really want to
come off it,’’ he said.
Dr Clerigo said he found it
frustrating when a patient
wanted to come off ice, but
did not get immediate
support.
‘‘Few people really want to
change, we only get them
occasionally,’’ he said.
He said many of his patients
went to Melbourne for
treatment.
Dr Clerigo said while home
detox was an option, he was
often reluctant to prescribe
the drugs needed to come
off ice.
‘‘Really we do not know who
is legit or who just wants to
get diazepam from us,’’ he
said.
‘‘Most of the time it doesn’t
work, we really need a
structured approach.’’