MUM OF BOY, 12, SLAMS FICKLE 'POT' LAW

HUNDREDS of children as young as 10 are buying marijuana-smoking devices in
cut-price 'bargain' stores.

Concerned parents are demanding legislative changes to stop their children
being allowed to buy 'bongs' and pipes used to smoke the illegal drug.

And leading youth health experts have warned the increasing prevalence of
drug implements on display in general "knick-knack" stores is sending a
mixed message to children.

SA Police statistics reveal 125 children aged 10-14 were charged with
possessing implements which had been used to smoke marijuana in the 1996/97
financial year.

During that same period 167 children aged under 14 were charged with
cannabis-related offences.

SA Police Drug Task Force Acting Operations Inspector, Eddie Sudrabs, said
the sale of drug implements to children was a moral, not a legal, issue.

"It's the drug that's illegal, and not the actual pipe," he said.

A Paralowie mother recently discovered her son in possession of two
marijuana pipes he had bought at a local 'bargain' store.

The mother, who declined to be named for fear of repercussions against her
son, was outraged. "This shop has sold my son, a 12-year-old child, two
pipes used to smoke marijuana," she said.

"The man running the store told him to come back anytime he wanted more, and
he was told not to tell anybody where he bought them from."

When the concerned parent went to the police, she was informed it was legal
for the shop to sell pipes to children.

"You're not allowed to sell cigarettes to a 12-year-old. Why are you allowed
to sell a pipe that is solely used to smoke marijuana?" he said.

Associate Professor Michael Carr-Gregg, of the Centre for Adolescent Health,
said legislative change was needed.

"Mixed messages are being sent by allowing implements to be on public
display," he said.

Checked-by: Don Beck