DRUG BLITZ: NEW RULES TO TARGET TEEN CLUBS

Revellers attending under-18 dance parties on Sydney's premier nightclub
strip will have to supply personal details under tough new guidelines.

They will be required to pre-purchase tickets and give their name, address,
date of birth and school when attending dance parties in Oxford Street.

Names would be checked against a list at the door on the night.

Police proposed the measures after a Sun-Herald investigation found ecstasy
was readily available at under-18 dance parties for as little as $25 a tablet.

The new rules are aimed at curbing drug dealing and stopping older people
attending the parties.

Licensing officer Nick Pitchuev from Surry Hills police said they would
work more closely with under-18s promoters on Oxford Street in the future.
He said he would look at a number of methods to increase security at
functions for minors.

"No-one will be able to enter an under-18s function unless they actually
have the pre-purchased tickets and they have ID so they can be identified
and ticked off at the door," Sergeant Pitchuev said.

"We are also looking at making sure the dance operators step up their
security for both the minors attending and to protect themselves.

"That's probably an area where under-18 dance parties are a little bit lax.

"There's not a real problem with under-18s until we get a minor drug
overdose. That's when there's a problem for the premises.

"The police are in two minds on which way to go. If you say 'no, you can't
have any more under-18s dance parties', it would be unfair for the minors.
But we can't let these functions operate unsupervised."

Sergeant Pitchuev said the guidelines would be applicable only in the Surry
Hills area, but he hoped they would be adopted in other areas holding
under-18s parties.

One Oxford Street club, the Tantra nightclub, has suspended its Wednesday
night under-18 parties until new security measures are introduced.

The Sun-Herald investigation found ecstasy was openly sold and taken in the
bathrooms of one Oxford Street party, as hundreds of teenagers danced
throughout the night.

A reporter was offered drugs several times during the evening by a reveller
on the dance floor. The price varied from $35 for one tablet to $25 each
for 20.

A 1998 National Drug and Alcohol Research study revealed the average age of
first-time ecstasy users was 17.