BORED TEENAGERS SUCCUMB TO DRUGS

Police Arrest Man As Youngsters Recover In Intensive Care After
Taking Potentially Fatal Cocktail

The kids start gathering outside number 81 as soon as the school day
has finished.

It is absolute lunacy.

This has got to be stopped before someone dies. Angelique Chrisafis
Friday June 1, 2001 The Guardian Police in Newcastle last night
arrested a man in connection with drugs dealt to seven teenagers who
collapsed unconscious after taking a potentially fatal cocktail of
alcohol, cannabis and antidepressants.

The youths, aged between 13 and 18, from Howdon, South Tyneside, took
a mixture of spirits, cannabis and Diazepam, a prescribed
antidepressant which causes drowsiness. The drug is said to be sold on
the streets of the Newcastle suburb for UKP 1 a handful. Forensic
officers yesterday combed the garden of a derelict house, known in the
area as a drugs den frequented by teenagers.

It was believed several of the boys had visited the house on
Wednesday. Last night, four teenagers were still in intensive care
awaiting tests for brain damage.

Two others remained on hospital wards. Detective Inspector Steve Fear
who is leading the investigation said: "This is the worst case of
teenage drug abuse I have come across."

The teenagers were believed to have taken around 100 antidepressants,
30 Temazepam tablets, a small amount of cannabis and some alcohol,
police said. According to teenagers and parents on the estate, the
group went to the derelict house for "something to ease the boredom"
of half term.

It was late afternoon, and they aimed to be home by the 9pm curfew
imposed on their estate this week by police.

Andrew Patterson, 13, the youngest, collapsed within yards of the
house with his friend Kelvin Shotton, 15, at around 4pm. Unconscious
Wayne Dack, 17, was found unconscious in the road by his brother and
14-year-old sister.

Four other 18-year-olds, Dean Mitchell, Richard O'Carroll, Lee
Armstrong and Lee Miller, were found unconscious or in distress as a
police helicopter circled the area looking for youths who had taken
the same dose. Police received calls from parents whose sons had
collapsed as they arrived home. One was found lying in his bed fully
clothed.

Another was believed to have been found in a field. The overdoses
sparked a prompt police response with 40 officers making door-to-door
inquiries in Howdon. In April, UKP 20,000 worth of crack cocaine,
amphetamines, ecstasy and cannabis was recovered from a house.

Last July UKP 2m worth of ecstasy and other drugs were seized on raids
in nearby Holy Cross and in September 1999, a UKP 500,000 heroin ring
was smashed after a raid on an allotment.

Lee Miller, 18, whose flat overlooks the suspected drug den said
alcohol and drug cocktails were commonplace. "It is easy to get hold
of. Kids round here will do anything for a buzz. "The house has been
empty for two or three months and it is easy to buy drugs around
here.I know all the lads involved and they had been in the back garden
of the house at Martin Road." Wayne Dack, whose nephew was one of the
boys found unconscious, said: "They are taking tablets and they don't
know what is in them." Another resident said the teenagers had been
banned from a local community centre because of fears that they would
cause trouble.

She said the boys had been to her house on numerous occasions because
there was nowhere else to go. She said: "There's nothing to do around
here. They were good kids but people didn't want them coming here. But
there's nowhere for them to go."

Her comments were echoed by some of the other teenagers in the area.
Boredom was cited as the main culprit among the teenagers who freely
admitted roaming the streets killing time with alcohol and other
drugs. The lack of facilities such as youth clubs were sometimes but
not always used as an excuse. A resident on the same road as the den
said: "The kids start gathering outside number 81 as soon as school
finishes.

They come from as far away as Walker and the West End [in Newcastle]
just to get their drugs.

They just break in round the back and stay there for hours. "I saw
paramedics taking two of the youngsters out of the boarded up house.
Last week the police knocked on every door and told us that they were
putting in a 9pm curfew on youngsters in the street.

It is absolute lunacy, this has got to be stopped before someone
dies." A resident who worked night shifts said: "There are always
groups of 12 to 15 year-olds hanging around outside the metro station
wasted on alcohol. But that is because there is nothing for them to
do." But whether the police curfew has made inroads on the straying
teenagers' behaviour is doubted by some who live in the area. One
mother said that the curfew had not affected teenagers.

She said: "All that happens is the teenagers go elsewhere and find
somewhere quieter to take their drugs." Roger Howard, chief executive
of DrugScope, said Diazepam had similar effects to cannabis and
antidepressants. "The dangers depend on volume and frequency.

Mixing Diazepam with alcohol in large quantities could be a killer."