DRUG DEALERS DRIVE COUNTRY KIDS TO CRIME

TEENAGE girls are being forced into prostitution by drug dealers to pay for
amphetamines in a small country town in central Queensland.

Sarina, south of Mackay, has a population of about 9300 and residents claim
their once-quiet, cane-farming town is being over-run by drug dealers who
are preying on their children.

State Labor candidate for Mirani Barry Gomersall said a 15-year-old girl had
been taken to Rockhampton for prostitution, while another teenager had
recently had a heart attack after using amphetamines cut with a toxic chemical.

"The drug problem in Queensland, especially country areas, is a lot more
widespread than people are giving it credit for," Mr Gomersall said.

He said the use of drugs, mainly amphetamines, had escalated in the past
year with break and enters and theft soaring.

Residents also were being threatened by dealers to keep their mouths shut
about their children's habits.

"There's only one rehabilitation centre in south-east Queensland and that is
unacceptable. We need at least one in central Queensland."

The father of the girl who was taken to Rockhampton to become a prostitute
said he had been trying to track her down for the past few weeks.

"We've been told there's a price on her head and that she was dragged off
the street and dragged into a car," he said.

"I know that the amphetamine dealers are targeting kids and then they stand
over them for payment."

The father said children were turning to crime and he suspected that other
girls had been forced to work as prostitutes to pay their dealers.

He said several teenage boys had been forced to flee town because they owed
up to $8000 to dealers.

The father said that even if he found his daughter, there were no
rehabilitation services, and if he went to Brisbane he would probably have
to wait for four months to get into a programme.

"We're a small town and it's out of control," he said.

"Young school kids are smoking snow cones, which are marijuana mixed with speed.

""The police are doing the best they can but they are not getting on top of
the problem."

He said although the Queensland Government had passed the Children's
Commission Act in 1996, which states that children must have access to drug
and mental health rehabilitation services, nothing had been done.

"I feel let down by the system ... nobody can help you and you start banging
your head against a brick wall," the father said.

"I don't want to be burying my daughter, but if she doesn't get some help
this is what is going to happen."

Parents, police and community leaders held a small drug summit in Sarina
recently to discuss ways to combat the problem and intend to hold meetings
each month.

Drug Arm spokeswoman Judith Hart said the organisation had been receiving
calls from people in Sarina and other small towns.

She said young people turn to crime and prostitution to support expensive
drug habits.