TIME FOR ACTION ON CANNABIS - EXPERTS SOUND A WARNING

Gisborne's denial has been a barrier to dealing with its huge problems
with cannabis, a hui was told this week - the key now is to turn
discussion into action.

That was the message to the Child and Youth Action on Drugs hui on
cannabis, which was given up-to-the-minute information from
counsellors, youth workers, the region's police drugs officer, a
recovered addict and National's East Coast MP Anne Tolley.

Counsellor and psychotherapist Dick Johnstone was one of six
panellists who gathered to examine the cannabis issue from different
angles.

"I have seen babies whose parents funnelled smoke at them to quieten
them, the demotivation - vanished desire to play sport or do well at
school, all replaced with irrational babyish behaviour," said Mr Johnstone.

He has 30 years experience as a counsellor - including work in
Paremoremo Prison with men he said ended up there as a result of
impulsive crimes to get some more pot.

"It's when people are coming off the drug that the problems start,
when the calm wears off and the depression is still there. Someone
will do a few quick burglaries in this highly-agitated state, an
elderly inhabitant will surprise them and it turns into a physical or
sexual assault."

The medicinal effects were a red herring, he said.

"I worked at Otara Spinal Unit and patients there were taking
'medicinal marijuana' for pain.

What it meant is that they lost motivation to do their physiotherapy
and then developed lung problems - there are many better muscle
relaxants and painkillers."

Another myth for the most part is moderate consumption, said Mr
Johnstone.

"I imagine it is possible to use it moderately, but we Kiwis tend to
guts everything. How do you cut down and stay that way? I've never
seen it happen.

With a huge client base and a budget for only two therapists, Child
and Adolescent Mental Health Services' (CAMHS) success stories are
"few and far between," said Brett Mataira - one of two therapists who
service four secondary schools in the region.

"I'm working with the tip of the iceberg. We're doing our job, but the
problem seems insurmountable, seems huge - teenage depression,
suicide, drug use, alcohol, tobacco and you talk to whanau who say,
'Too much bro - you work with them, see ya!'

"Right now, I'm telling you as straight as I can - it's a huge, huge
problem."

The hui was the first time CIB detective Eric Hunter had been invited
to speak on the cannabis issue.

His territory as the region's sole drug investigator extends from
Lottin Point in the north to Kotemaori past Wairoa in the south - the
third-largest cannabis-growing area in New Zealand after Northland and
Waikato.

"People ask why people who grow and deal cannabis do not have flash
cars and boats - often it's because they are users, don't want to work
and opt out of life. They just exist," he said.

Gangs primarily controlled the region's drug industry, said Mr Hunter.
They worked with some people and forced others, such as solo mums, to
work for them. In terms of resources to overcome the problem, police
were "spread pretty thin".

"If people take the stance that assisting the police to deal with the
drug problem is 'pimping', we can't do much. There is apathy from
generations of people growing up around it, but there must be a way
for us to deal with the problem - nothing is impossible.

"To do that though we need more manpower and better resources through
the judiciary, especially for the bigger cases and the people higher
up the chain. Court cases can take so long that people brush it aside."