MARIJUANA NAMED AS THE DRUG OF CHOICE

MARIJUANA was named the drug of choice for those involved the
Generation Next survey.

At the launch of the survey, City of Ballarat youth development
officer Larelle Kuczer said she was happy that only 20 per cent of
participants said they had tried illicit drugs.

Even so, young people The Courier spoke about drugs were still
confused about what were safe and non-safe drugs.

Dean, 16, who did not want his surname used, said he saw marijuana as
a safer drug than others available.

"In the end, all the eccies (ecstacy) will kill you," he said. "If
you take too many at once you can OD (overdose).

"With pot, you can smoke as much as you want and all you will do is
green-out and spew."

Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-operative alcohol and other drug
counsellor Jeff Cuell said it was this sort of attitude to cannabis
that worried him.

"I hear a lot that it is a 'natural plant'," he said.

"Maybe it was in the 1960s and 70s, but these days its often
genetically tampered with and packed full of growth hormones.

"It's a lot more dangerous, particularly in terms of
schizophrenia.

BADAC youth alcohol and other drug prevention and education officer
Andrew Green said young people were being sent mixed messages about
drug and alcohol use.

"It is shows like The Footy Show or even The Logies where they show
them getting absolutely smashed and make it out to be funny," he said.

"It is mainly sports programs. You hear them say 'I can't wait to
have a beer' after a game. What sort of message is that sending?"

BADAC provides counselling, education and preventative programs to
help young people within the Indigenous community deal with these
health issues.

"We recently ran a program dealing with cannabis use called the
Yarndi Program," Mr Green said. "It was really good - we had a
barbecue and got about 20 people there."