SCHOOLS BRACE FOR P

Northland intermediate principals fighting against marijuana use at
school say it's only a matter of time before pupils try the
dangerous stimulant methamphetamine.

Whangarei Intermediate School principal Keith Dowdle and Kaikohe
Intermediate School principal Phil Gordon are now turning to a
graphic drug programme to persuade children that methamphetamine,
also called P, is bad news.

Both principals said getting hold of P wasn't hard for intermediate pupils.

"Five years ago marijuana wouldn't have been an issue in
intermediate schools and now it is," Mr Dowdle said.

"How much longer will it be until P starts to filter down?"

An angry Mr Gordon said some children saw marijuana as a normal part
of life because their families smoked it.

"We have enough considerations like providing kai, dressing the kids
and making them feel good. Marijuana is just another excuse to not
succeed," Mr Gordon said.

Whangarei family therapist Patsy Henderson-Watt said marijuana had a
huge effect on people and the younger they started smoking it, the
greater the damage.

When they saw their parents and grandparents smoking the drug, kids
"didn't know not to", she said.

"Dope is becoming normality for so many families and it's a part of
their 'nowhere' lifestyle," Mrs Henderson-Watt said.

To fight back against P, Northland intermediate schools have taken
on a new anti-drug programme run by youth health educators Life
Education Trust, of Harold the Giraffe fame.

This hard-hitting programme contains graphic photographs of drunk
youth throwing up as well as videos of drug users injecting themselves.

Life Education Trust educator Nadine Campbell said the prevention
programme was introduced to Northland this year because principals
and parents had asked for hard-hitting anti-drug education.

"Children know a lot about marijuana and they know about P," Mrs
Campbell said.

Children had been shocked to find out how deadly P could be, Mrs
Campbell said.

Whangarei campus cop Hank van Engelen said children as young as nine
were smoking marijuana. He is about to deal with two
intermediate-aged pupils who took marijuana to school recently.

Some children he had dealt with came from families where mari-juana
was part of everyday life, but others got it from friends.

Whangarei youth drug and alcohol service Rubicon is currently
working with Northland Health and other agencies to find a suitable
agency to deal with pre-teens who use marijuana.

Rubicon manager Jenny Gibbs said children as young as nine were
using the drug but her service was only equipped to deal with
youngsters between 11 and 17.

"A lot of kids are from second to third generation pot-using
families - their parents do it, their brothers and sisters do it,"
Mrs Gibbs said.

However, she believed the children she dealt with had been turned
off P because they saw its devastating effects it had on users in
their families.

In the coming days, the Northern Advocate will investigate how
Northland high schools are tackling the methamphetamine scourge.

* 'You can waste your whole life'

Peter Tucker is a polite, softly-spoken panelbeater who loves fixing
cars and the peace and quiet of Kaikohe.

The 22-year-old former Aucklander is optimistic about his new life,
but is still fighting the lure of methamphetamine, also known as P,
as well as marijuana. He used both drugs for years.

While Northland intermediate school principals fear their pupils
could soon be using P, Peter advises young people "you're a better
person for saying no".

"You can lose your whole life. You might get a buzz for a while but
you'll never be able to keep that buzz going."

Youngsters may think Peter's turned out all right so P can't be that
bad, but it is, he says.

Peter lost "all his morals", motivation and short-term memory. Over
three years Peter dropped 30kg to weigh in at a scarily thin 53kg.

"I dealt P and did dodgy deals. I started not paying my bills.

"I used all my wages on drugs ... sometimes I'd spend $1000 a week
on P," Peter said.

Peter, who moved to Kaikohe two months ago to make a new start,
first began using drugs at 16. He became a heavy pot smoker for a
few years before adding P to his list of hobbies.

Peter began smoking P in the weekends with his mates, but that
quickly turned to several times a week and sometimes daily. He was
also smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol regularly.

"I'd play computer games until 5am. You've just got no concept of
time, five hours feels like five minutes.

"When I was on P I felt like I could work forever. I felt like I
didn't need sleep," Peter said.

Around 18 months ago, Peter decided P and marijuana had taken too
strong a hold on his life, so he reached out to his boss and asked for help.

Two months later he got back into P and this time his boss called a
drug helpline. Peter received help for several months from drug and
alcohol centres.

Fast forward 13 months to today and Peter hasn't touched alcohol or
drugs. Every week he attends Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics
Anonymous meetings.

"It feels good but I still have hard times ... Sometimes I get
extremely depressed. It gets to the stage where I ask myself 'why am
I on Earth?' ... People just say 'get over it' but you can't."

Peter says he's "getting there" but knows it will be a struggle to
stay off drugs for life.

"But I've got a saying - all good things take time."