Batch of Meth Crystals
A customs officer holds a bag of the drug methamphetamine confiscated at the German border, before a news conference presenting the annual report of Germany's customs agency, Zoll, at the finance ministry in Berlin, March 22, 2013. REUTERS

Four young men, ranging from 21 to 26 years old, have ingested a batch of drug ice and are now fighting for their lives. Another one is seriously ill but stable. The patients are under intensive care in hospitals in Melbourne and Victoria, according to police reports.

The men were suffering from breathing difficulty, which was likely caused by ice overdose and so they were brought to the hospital. Friends, who knew the victims and who also used the same batch of drugs, experienced persistent cough. Others had headaches, chest pains, fever, and shortness of breath.

According to Clandestine Laboratory Squad investigators, two of the men, who are in their mid-twenties, went to the Monash Medical Centre on Nov. 19 with respiratory problems. They are now in intensive care.

The other two were admitted at the Bairnsdale hospital in Gippsland last week. One of them is now in a stable condition at the Sale Hospital while the other patient, named Mitch, is still in critical condition at The Alfred.

Doctors say that the lung damage caused by smoking lethal batches of drug ice is irreversible. There were also reports that the drug was mixed with Paraquat, an herbicide that can cause death and serious damage to the respiratory system. An anonymous source provided one of the hospitals with a sample of the drug that was used. The substance is being examined by authorities.

Victoria police and health officials are still investigating how this illegal drug trade is taking place in the region. Several youngsters in the area who were experiencing the same symptoms are also suspected to have ingested the same drug. Authorities requests the public's cooperation on the matter to prevent more young people from suffering the same fate.

According to the Australian Drug Foundation, 2.1 percent of Australians aged 14 years and over have used methamphetamine in the previous 12 months. Of these people, 50.4 percent report crystal or ice as main form of the drug used. In Victoria, the daily number of all amphetamine-related ambulance attendances in 2012 to 2013 increased significantly compared with the previous year - 88 percent increase in metropolitan Melbourne and a 198 percent in regional Victoria. This is attributed to an increase in the number of attendances relating to crystal methamphetamine or drug ice.