$200-A-DAY DRUG CLINIC

The Queen Mary Hospital at Hanmer Springs has begun a new $200-a-day
programme treating youths as young as 14 for serious drug addiction.

Chief executive officer Tim Harding said the hospital, New Zealand's
equivalent to The Betty Ford Clinic, would even accept 12 and 13-year-olds
for detoxification and rehabilitation, if they proved suitable candidates.

The youth alcohol and drug programme, from eight to 12 weeks long, is
designed for hard-core teenagers who have not responded to other
community-based treatments.

It is believed to be the first hospital-based youth programme of its type.

Most youths treated by the hospital so far have been addicted to drugs,
mainly cannabis and solvents, said Mr Harding.

"We've had to deal with youths before, but nobody was funding a youth
programme as such," he said. "This is separate to the adult programme and
much more appropriate for young clients."

Anti-drugs campaigner Trevor Grice, a Queen Mary director, said growing
numbers of children had drug addictions, at younger ages than before.

"The experimental drug use we once saw at 14 or 15, we are now seeing at 11
or 12," he said.

"The potency of the drugs is increasing. They are more widely available and
children have much faster absorption rates. They have less efficient
metabolic systems than adults and they become addicted far faster."

Mr Grice said youths' obnoxious behaviour was often dictated by their
addiction.

"We have hundreds of agencies trying to deal with it by counselling, when
essentially a lot of them need detoxifying. That has to be done under the
supervision of doctors and nurses," he said.

"Trying to counsel someone who is toxic ... you may as well take a
jellyfish to an orthopaedic surgeon."

Detoxification ranges from one to three weeks, depending on the drug type,
said Mr Harding.

He said the Health Funding Authority's decision to fund five beds for
youths from the southern region was pivotal to the hospital being able to
offer the programme.

However, it would also need funding from other agencies, such as Child,
Youth and Family Services, and private fee-paying clients, to survive, said
Mr Harding.

The programme for 14 to 19-year-olds has begun with seven youths, but would
ideally run with 15 to 20 clients, he said.

Mr Harding said the $192.50 cost a day included 24-hour, seven-days-a-week
supervision from a specialist team, including three counsellors, a teacher,
and two nurses.

The programme ends with a wilderness experience, designed by a team led by
veteran explorer Graeme Dingle.

"This is a ground-breaking opportunity to develop a programme that has
hospital backing, detoxification, full alcohol and drug treatment service,
followed by an outdoor adventure in the perfect region, for less than the
cost of a hospital bed," Mr Harding said.