ALL ABOUT E: TEENS TAKE DRUG MESSAGE TO PEERS

"Do you want a win a free T-shirt?" Just answer this easy question - what do
you do with a friend who is sick on ecstasy? - and the T-shirt is yours.

That's the kind of tactic being used by teenagers in the Manly area who have
been trained to attend rock venues and youth events and talk to their peers
about drugs.

Another group of over-18s were at the Big Day Out and Vibes last month.

Mr Billy Cohen, 20, of Manly, was in the same year at high school as Anna
Woods, who died after using ecstacy at a nightclub. He said he became
interested in drug education after her death.

He was trained as a peer educator last year and said it was pretty easy to
slip drug information into any conversation, the occasional derisory comment
notwithstanding.

"If someone says they have some pot, I say, 'Really? How do you smoke pot?
Cones? That's not quite as healthy as smoking it other ways. It's safer to
smoke a joint'."

Other drugs require different tactics, Mr Cohen said. To an ecstasy user, he
might say: "You're going E-ing this weekend? Keep your fluids up, man."

The architect of the pilot Drug Stop Project is Ms Annie Bleeker, from the
Drug Education and Counselling Centre in Manly.

She said the drug education offered in schools was more suited to young
people who were less inclined to try drugs. Teenagers who were likely to
experiment needed to be targeted in other ways.

"Most school teachers think Special K is a type of cereal," she said, in
reference to the streetname for ketamine, which is used as a horse
tranquilliser.

The teenagers chosen for the project were "savvy" types who underwent 40
hours of training last year, including attending a three-day camp.

Ms Bleeker said the original plan was for each participant to have at least
20 drug-information conversations, or "hits", with friends and to attend at
least three supervised events, where they would man a Drug Stop stall.

By the end of the program, the teenagers had chalked up 2,400 "hits", with
most conversations focusing on cannabis, alcohol and tobacco. Ecstasy and
speed were also discussed.

Ms Bleeker said she was now looking for funding to train more peer
educators. The said the program had increased confidence levels for the
young peer educators, many of whom remained committed to the volunteer
program.

NSW Health allocated Commonwealth funds toward another peer education
program, which trained over-18s to talk to young people at the Big Day Out
and Vibes.

Mr Detlev Jackson, coordinator of the polydrug peer education project for
youth at the Centre for Education and Information on Drugs and Alcohol, said
the program was proving effective and would be expanded across Sydney.