THE SITE WHERE ADULTS DON'T GO

Teen-Oriented Nexopia Has Drug Talk

EDMONTON - It's late Tuesday night and two teenage boys are comparing
bongs in Nexopia's drugs forum.

"Nice collection, man," writes one, referring to a photo of the
colourfully painted glass pipes, used to smoke marijuana. For a
website targeted towards youth, Nexopia is staggeringly explicit.

Users post photos of vapourizers alongside Ziploc bags of weed;
describe their highs in "trip reports," and nonchalantly discuss the
advantages of one stimulant over another.

"We have far less censorship in terms of allowing members to broadcast
themselves online, but we do have checks and balances like any other
website," says Chris Webster, Nexopia's communications director. "Less
censorship is definitely the mandate here."

That mandate is part of the reason why Edmonton-based Nexopia is one
of the Internet's most popular destinations for Canadian teens. Since
it launched in 2003, the community has grown to more than 1.2 million
users, 75 per cent of whom are between the ages of 13 and 19.

Similar to fellow social-networking websites Facebook and MySpace,
Nexopia is an online community where users chat, share photos and
write about their interests. But while its more structured competitors
tend to attract adults, Nexopia allows anything within legal limits,
spotlighting angst-fuelled essays and forums centred around
relationships, drugs and sexual orientation. By contrast, religion and
politics is about as racy as the MySpace forums get.

"Anyone can say whatever they want," says longtime member Robert
Mulder, who joined Nexopia six years ago. He was 11 at the time, and
used the site to chat with friends.

Nexopia's forums are a reliable source of information, he says. Mulder
has visited the drug forum before, and says moderators post factual,
"unbiased information" about suggested dosages and what to expect from
certain narcotics. That worries Edmonton psychologist Dr. Joan Neehall.

"It's good that the children have a site to interact with each other
and discuss all of their insecurities.... What I'm more concerned
about as a psychologist is that they pool their information together
- -- 'Yeah, this is great. This is really good stuff'."

They should question everything they see online, Neehall says. "I'm
very concerned ... that their values get skewed because they haven't
double-checked or just processed (what they read) with someone that
they respect."

Adults need to be aware of what's going on online, she
adds.

But part of the reason Nexopia is so popular is that adults aren't
surfing the site, says Nexopia's Webster.

"Nexopia is a place that your mom and dad and your teacher aren't
going to have profiles and they're not going to try to 'friend' you on
a daily basis. It's a place by teens, for teens.

"Does it surprise me that (the drug) forum exists? No, it doesn't.
Anything that exists outside the realm of the Internet and exists as
hot topics in the community, they will find their way online and into
the lives of anyone online."