ADD DRUG INFILTRATES PLAYGROUNDS

TEENAGERS are abusing an attention-deficit disorder drug which is being
supplied through a thriving black market in schools.

Health and drug experts have warned the burgeoning trade in dexamphetamine
is operating in high schools throughout the state.

The drug, which is a form of "speed", also has been linked to eating
disorders in young women.

The Pharmacy Guild of Queensland said scores of parents and principals had
reported increasing use of the drug in schoolyards.

Guild president Kos Sclavos said the drug had become so common it was being
copied in illegal backyard laboratories.

"There's too much of it around, and too many parents and schools are ringing
up anecdotally to find out about the drug," he said.

"For those supplies to be around, it's obvious that it is bypassing the
medical profession."

Drug and youth groups said amphetamines and similar prescription drugs were
becoming a favourite among young women trying to lose weight.

"Speed is very much catching up to marijuana as the illicit drug of choice
in Australia, and it would be the illicit drug of choice for young women,"
Drug-Arm spokeswoman Judith Hart said.

"Around 50percent of women using speed would be using for weight loss."

The revelations yesterday prompted Premier Peter Beattie to call for a
special premiers' conference to discuss a new and bipartisan approach to
drug problems.

"What's happening is that we are all putting our heads in the sand on
drugs," Mr Beattie said.

"Young people are dying."

Australian Medical Association state president Dana Wainwright warned that
abusing ADD prescription drugs for weight loss could lead to serious
long-term health problems, including abnormalities of the heart valves and
respiratory impairment.

Palm Beach-Currumbin Private Hospital director of psychiatry Stephen
Huntsman said he was aware of young patients who had been on dexamphetamine
and were selling it at school.

"There is a developing trade in the drug," he said. "It is prescribed in
good faith, but the patient is then on-selling without doctors being aware
of it."

Dr Huntsman said 20percent of the women admitted for eating disorders used
amphetamines and many young women also could be using dexamphetamine.

Queensland Association of State School Principals president Tom Hardy
confirmed there was concern about the prevalence of the medication for
children with ADD.