DEMAND FOR SMART DRUGS PUTS CANNABIS ECONOMY IN SLUMP

The much-vaunted cannabis economy in the Far North is in the doldrums.

Customers on the Auckland market are turning away from "bush dak" to more
sophisticated urban products and designer drugs, sending demand for the Far
North's finest plummeting.

Prices for Northland cannabis have been slashed as much as 75 per cent as
the crop normally consumed in the Big Smoke is left hanging fire in the Far
North.

It is a glut which police say partly explains the upsurge in drug-related
incidents among Northland school children, some of primary school age.

It has forced growers and dealers who normally sell in bulk to break their
crops into small lots for local use, often as a form of currency in barter
transactions.

Next week at least 500 people are expected at a public meeting in Kaitaia to
discuss the increase in cannabis use among young people.

But police believe that youths are smoking more because there is more to smoke.

They say improved growing techniques, including hydroponic systems which
produce several crops a year in Auckland basements, attics, garages and
leased warehouses, are cutting demand for Northland's "bush dak."

Detective Inspector Craig Duncan, Auckland police drug squad chief, said
growers believed indoor cannabis plantations were more difficult to detect.

He suggested that the drop in demand for Northland cannabis might reflect a
preference for "designer" drugs such as Ecstasy, particularly in Auckland's
night-club scene.

All of that has an effect hundreds of kilometres to the north.

"It's not that more is being produced here," said Constable Brian Camplin,
the Kaitaia district's community constable and youth aid officer.

"It's just not leaving town as much so it tends to get farmed out to kids
more easily."

It is also cheaper to come by: buyers with contacts can get good quality Far
North cannabis for between $160 and $200 an ounce, about, 75 per cent down
on last season's prices.

Those without contacts can expect to pay up to $300 an ounce.

Constable Camplin said his local college and intermediate school had told
him they could not keep cannabis out of their schools.

So it was decided to "draw a line" in front of the intermediate school in a
bid to stop cannabis getting in. Any child caught with the drug was
questioned and if the source was established, police applied for a search
warrant.

The upsurge in marijuana use is more marked in the junior school. So far
this year 11 children have been suspended from Kaitaia Intermediate School
for cannabis-related offences; only three were suspended in the whole of
last year.

Three pupils from Ahipara School were also suspended after being caught in
possession of the drug on the grounds of Kaitaia Intermediate.

At Kaitaia College, 11 pupils have been suspended so far this year, compared
with 34 for all of 1997.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett