DEALERS GET YOUNG PEOPLE HOOKED ON NEW DRUG

Young people are getting hooked on a new form of heroin as dealers
find drugs to fill the gap left by record seizures of P.

In the first three months of this year, customs officers have seized
twice the amount of the precursor used to make P than in the same
period last year.

They seized the equivalent of about 700,000 methamphetamine pills from
January to March last year, compared with about 1.4 million in the
first quarter of this year.

Authorities believe the seizures are forcing drug dealers to turn to
other drugs as P becomes more difficult to make and sell.

Christchurch police, health professionals and drug counsellors have
noticed a rise in the past year in the number of young people using
the new form of the drug, known among users as "spotting", a name
derived from the way it is taken.

Detective Sergeant Dorothy McPhail, of the Christchurch
organised-crime unit, said the drug was a "new form of homebake heroin
in liquid form sold in dots on sheets of tinfoil".

The drug is then smoked off the foil.

"It seems to be a younger group that is using it. That seems to be the
trend. It is something new that we have come across," she said.

The Canterbury District Health Board's community alcohol and drug
service clinical head, David Stoner, said more young people were
becoming addicted to opiates.

"We have seen an upsurge in younger people in their late teens and
early 20s who are smoking opiates. There has been a definite rise," he
said.

"When you see young people being introduced to opiates in that way, it
can lead them to intravenous use as well, and all the problems that
entails."

Christchurch City Mission youth alcohol and drug counsellor Michelle
Holden said many young people were getting addicted to the substance
without realising it was a hard drug.

"To them they are just smoking another thing and they don't realise
they are smoking a hard drug," she said.

"This seems to be a gang-related thing where they are introducing this
[new drug] because the police are making progress with the precursor
drugs for P."

City Missioner Michael Gorman said the drug was a "new phenomenon",
but there was also a rise in the number of people arriving at the
mission with P addiction.

"Customs may be discovering more, but the number of cases of P we are
seeing is on the increase with young people," he said.

"A year ago, hardly any young people were presenting with P problems.
That is not the case now."

New Zealand Needle Exchange Programme national manager Charles
Henderson said it was a concern that young people were taking the
drug, but smoking was a less dangerous way to take it than injecting.

"It is smoked mostly, and we would say that is a good thing because it
moves people away from injecting, which is the riskiest behaviour of
all," he said.

"There are still some health risks associated with smoking it as
well."

[sidebar]

SPOTTING

The new drug is a synthetic opioid which is smoked. The drug is sold
in small dots of a resin-like substance on sheets of foil. The name of
the drug is derived from the method used to smoke it, which is also
sometimes used for marijuana consumption.

Effects: Brief euphoria, mellow mood and sleepiness.

Cost: About $5 a hit.

Health impact: Long-term dependence, cardiopulmonary problems from
smoking and some risk of hepatitis C.Source: New Zealand Needle Exchange
Programme