Derryn Hinch’s shocking transformation
<p>Derry Hinch has seen firsthand what he would look like if he were to “throw your life away on ice”.</p>
<p>The Australian Senator for Victoria and media personality underwent an ‘ice makeunder’ to see how an addiction to the drugs would alter his face.</p>
<p>As part of his investigation into life addicted to the drug, Hinch used the app Ice Effex to see what the long-term impact of ice would do to his appearance.</p>
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<p>“It's spooky,” he said.</p>
<p>“The scary thing about Ice addicts, and I have met a few now, is they don't seem to see the scabs and the damage, they don’t see the rotted teeth."</p>
<p>Hinch added, “It's like anorexia, they don't see what they really look like.”</p>
<p>During an interview with a self-professed “casual” ice user, Hinch recalled the “very sad” experience as the man began smoking the drug while they were talking.</p>
<p>"He really is doing all that and thinking he is going out and having fun," Hinch said. "He's a young man and he's destroying his life."</p>
<p>The app Ice Effex was created by a Victorian couple, in the hope that it will alert a selfie-driven generation to the dangers of the drug.</p>
<p>Homelessness support workers Haydn Cooke and Trinity Lonel used the $40,000 they had set aside for a home deposit to build awareness of how damaging the effects of ice are through the app.</p>
<p>"The devastation and cost that one user has on a family and a community is huge," Haydn Cooke said. "Even if [the app] saves one kid or a couple of kids it will have been worth it."</p>
<p>During his time working at the Victorian regional Odyssey House rehab clinic, Cooke said he witnessed an explosion in ice use.</p>
<p>Cooke explained that he first got the idea for the app, which edits a selfie to show how a person would degenerate while using the drug, from his 13 and 16-year-old children.</p>
<p>"To sit with my son and say 'eat your veggies, it's good for your insides', they don’t give a stuff about that, they care what they look like," he said. "It's a really big deal to them at that age. We definitely involved them in the design because our target audience is 13 to 20-year-olds."</p>
<p>Launched in September, the app not only shows the effects of ice on the face after three, six and 12 months, but it also provides medical information about what is happening under the surface during this time.</p>
<p>Hinch believes the app is a good start in deterring people from using ice.</p>
<p>"The more we can educate kids the less chance there is they will start, that's key."</p>
<p>Cooke hopes the app will be shown in all schools across the country as a deterrent to methamphetamine use.</p>
<p>"It is about prevention and it has to start early."</p>
