THE STUDENT VIEW OF THE DRUG PROBLEM

The state's most eminent drug expert, David Penington, stood in front of 50
young Victorians at a Youth Round Table yesterday and impressed on them what
they already knew.

Illicit drug abuse was getting more common and more destructive. By the time
they left school, more than 50 per cent of young people like them would have
experimented with marijuana and, of those, many would progress to harder,
more dangerous drugs. Almost one Victorian was dying a heroin-related death
every day.

The delegates from high schools and community youth groups across Melbourne
came together to thrash out, in all its complexity, what it is that drives
teenagers to drugs - everything from dope to caffeine tablets, battery acid,
ecstasy and heroin. How was it that a young man could start out with "a beer
in one hand and a cigarette in the other" at a party because he felt "cool"
that way, and end up ruining his life, maybe ending his life, because of
heroin?

The students' experiences were vast. Lazare Agneskis, a year 12 student at
Footscray City College, said heroin use - smoking and injecting - had become
"pretty normal" in the Maribyrnong area, mostly because young people felt
bored, unmotivated and were economically disadvantaged. Notwithstanding that
his school was "excellent", with a great music program and lots of
challenges, heroin and other illicit drugs were cheap and easy to buy.

But the opposite was true at the more privileged end of the social spectrum.
Meg Tudor, a year 11 student at St Michael's Grammar, said drug use was
often the result of the stress that came from feeling under pressure to
succeed. She knew of students who had started abusing prescription drugs
"just to get through the day".

The forum was part of the Drug Policy Expert Committee's attempt to gather
information and perspectives for its series of recommendations to the State
Government.

Dr Penington, the committee chairman, expects to produce a document on
prevention within a fortnight.

"The drugs will continue to be available, so we need to find a way to change
the culture among young people," he said after he and Youth Affairs Minister
Justin Madden listened to the young delegates.

One girl handed Dr Penington an essay arguing against supervised injecting
rooms - the plan scuttled by the Liberal Party. But Lazare said he believed
the drug problem in the Footscray area could be relieved by injecting
facilities and the decriminalisation of drug use.

In Meg's experience, people started experimenting with drugs in years 9 and
10, but often pulled back from the more dangerous substances when they
realised how serious the consequences were. Education and strong families
were crucial, she said.