A leading Victorian drug rehabilitation provider is calling for extra residential rehabilitation centres in country Victoria, to combat a 100 per cent increase amphetamine-related problems in the last two years.

Most of the increase in amphetamine use can be attributed to the drug ice.

Odyssey House says its existing 15 bed residential facility at Benalla in the north-eastern Victoria has a waiting list of up too three months.

Odyssey House chief executive officer Dr Stefan Gruenert says new centres are desperately needed in Mildura, Gippsland and the Barwon areas.

“One of the real tragedies of any sort of drug treatment is that when people come knocking on the door asking for help and you’ve got a waiting list of two or three months and you can’t give it to them straight away,” he said.

“That’s really heartbreaking. We’d love to be responsive immediately to everyone who knocks on our door.”

He says addicts need to be treated in their own communities.

“We see a number of people in regional Victoria that say they want to access services in their local area, instead of going to a big facility in the city.”