SCHOOLS TAKE HARD LINE ON RISING DRUG ABUSE

Hundreds of students are being kicked out of school for drug abuse, a
problem that has increased markedly over the past two years.

Data released to the New Zealand Herald yesterday shows that, 1770
students were suspended for drug abuse last year from a total of
11,929 suspensions.

There were almost the same number of drug suspensions in 1997,a big
jump on most previous years.

The Minister of Health, Wyatt Creech, said the Ecstasy incident at
Mangere College, where five girls were hospitalised after taking the
that drug, rammed home the fact that hard and dangerous drugs we
heading into the community.

Last year Mr Creech, then Minister of Education, blamed increased drug
use and bad parenting for rising suspensions.

The Foundation for Alcohol and Drug Education says the Government has
to come up with more money if it is serious about curbing drug problems.

The foundation's executive director, Colin Bramfitt said the country
was sitting on a mental health time bomb with the flood of
experimental drugs around.

"The temptation with today's smorgasbord of drugs is huge. People are
throwing all sorts of mixes together and putting them on the market,
and people are willing to try them."

The Prime Minister, Jenny Shipley, yesterday urged Government agencies
and the community to work together to cut drug-related damage.

She asked the Ministers of Education, Police, Health and Customs to
update her on programmes to educate students on the harms of drug
abuse and ways of limiting drug access.

Police education officers have just launched a revised version their
awareness programme in primary schools.

Sergeant Les Pearson said the Drug Abuse Resistance Education
programme was reaching more young children each year, but a lot more
could be done.

"We are not by a long way getting to every child going through school,
and that comes down to the availability of staff."

He said the programme was about teaching children to make good
decisions and face issues such as peer pressure.

Illegal drugs were not named unless a child asked specific
questions.

The same philosophy was adopted in secondary schools.

"You could engender interest in the illegal drugs by mentioning them,
which would be catastrophic.

"We don't want to increase their knowledge if there's no need," he
said.

Mr Creech said the Government was to launch strategies to target
cannabis use in Northland and the East coast and to stop the growth of
the hard drug market.