SCHOOL DAZE

Debate over teenagers' use of alcohol and drugs has raged in the wake
of the death of a King's College student after a school ball last weekend.

Frances Morton headed out to find out what students have to say, and
just how worried their parents should be.

Eloise is a fresh-faced teenager with a blonde ponytail and sweeping
uniform skirt that signals her attendance at a good school in central
Auckland. The 16-year-old has already planned her illicit substance
for the night of her school ball later this year: Ecstasy.

"That's what everybody does," she says.

"You can act more sober if you're on a pill, not drunk."

She believes that will make it harder for parents and teachers to
catch her out.

Eloise is talking just days after David Gaynor died suddenly last
Saturday night following the King's College ball. Rumours of
drug-taking and drunken behaviour at the event have again sparked
debate over teenagers drinking and taking drugs.

And it caused the organisers of school balls this weekend to go to
unprecedented lengths to make sure there is no more tragedy.

Prime Minister John Key, whose son Max attends King's College and was
at the ball, was quoted this week saying, "I think we need to
acknowledge there is a drug culture."

Eloise and her group of mates, who come from several different
innercity colleges, were hanging out after school in Newmarket. The
teenagers, all aged 16, spoke candidly on the condition of anonymity.
This isn't the kind of stuff they share with their parents.

Taking "pills" or Ecstasy, they say, is common - especially at dance
raves on Saturday nights. A pill will cost $40 a pop, or $30 at mates'
rates if bought from a friend.

The teenagers were aware there was no guarantee the pills sold as
Ecstasy would actually contain MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine).
Emma researched what was available on the market on the online forum,
tripme.co.nz.

"It's an informative website that tells you what is in the drugs that
you could be buying, to keep you safe. I think it's a really good
thing," she says.

Emma admitted to drinking every Saturday night, smoking cannabis
regularly and has had an Ecstasy pill three times. She comes across as
level-headed and surprisingly knowledgeable when it comes to drugs.

"It's bad for schools to tell you, Don't do drugs,' because people are
just going to do them anyway and then they're not made aware of the
side effects."

Cannabis was the teenager's most preferred illicit drug, and they had
no problem getting access to it. They claimed to know supply houses in
their area, and two of the boys had been stopped by a Black Power
member on a Ponsonby street and asked if they wanted to buy the drug.

Andrew was given cannabis by a friend's mother, who handed it over on
one condition.

"She said, 'Whatever you have, you have to smoke it at the table.
Don't give it to your mates or take it and sell it'. She was being a
good parent," he says.

The teenagers had tried the legal synthetic-cannabis Kronic, available
in dairies, but rated the illegal version over its
counterpart.

"Marijuana is better," says Matthew. "On Kronic the buzz is real
hyper."

The range of substances the teenagers have dabbled in to get high is
extensive - and not all are illegal. They have stuffed socks over
aerosol cans and sucked in the gas for a quick head spin. They have
ingested the hallucinogenic plant datura, but this comes with a
warning: The teenagers knew of one girl who had tunnel vision for two
days after use and a boy who was hospitalised.

Cough syrup goes by the street name DX. Andrew says he got a "really
spaced-out buzz" from downing 150ml of Robitussin. However, the
laxative side effect was unpleasant.

Magic mushrooms are in season and kids have scoured school grounds for
crops, but the teenagers were wary of mushrooms because of the
potential to suffer serious poisoning. They also thought tripping on
the mushrooms made them vulnerable to muggers.

There is a trade in legal prescription drugs. Ritalin, a medication
for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has
a street value of $5 per tablet. The pill is crushed, raked into lines
and inhaled through the nose.

"You get a note and snort it up," says Andrew.

"That kicks in real fast. It gives you a focused, fast buzz, but when
you're drinking it can make it hard to interpret people's emotions. It
can be dangerous."

Drug usage varies depending on wealth. Ben Birks of Odyssey House runs
drug-education programmes in schools, mostly in South Auckland. Petrol
is the fourth most common substance abuse he deals with, after
alcohol, cannabis and cigarettes.

Birks says there is less evidence of petrol abuse in wealthier areas
where young people have more money and access to higher class drugs.

Andrew and his mates would not touch petrol. They also draw the line
at using needles, and stay clear of methamphetamine.

Matthew has seen the effects of a P addiction first-hand. His father
was on methamphetamine for about seven years, it alienated him from
the family and led to a conviction and one year's home detention when
the police raided the cannabis-growing operation he had to support his
addiction.

Matthew says seeing his father go through that has put him off
touching the drug, although he still smokes cannabis.

"At least if you do marijuana you can still see your family," he
says.

A number of the teenagers say their parents either do drugs, usually
cannabis, or had done so in their youth and therefore it was
hypocritical to forbid them from doing the same thing.

Although many did not speak openly with their parents about their drug
taking, they believed parents often had an inkling of what was going
on but turned a blind eye.

"Mum has an idea that we do marijuana," says Matthew.

"She doesn't know about other stuff. She tries to talk to me about it
but I dodge the conversation. She used to do the same sort of stuff
when she was a kid so she doesn't mind very much."

It's obvious that the drug of choice by a long way is
alcohol.

Emma: "There is definitely a binge-drinking culture. If you're going to
be drinking, you're drinking to get drunk."

The chairman of King's College board of governors, Peter Ferguson,
says the drinking age should be raised, but the students doubt such a
law change would have any impact on their alcohol use.

Worlds collide at 3.20pm at Middlemore station when students stream
out of the nearby secondary schools, King's College, Otahuhu College,
De La Salle College and McAuley High School.

Waiting for a train home to Mangere are two students, aged 15 and 16,
from Catholic girls' school, McAuley.

Neither drink nor take drugs, they say. They are too busy with sports
and church commitments.

"My family all know what's wrong with it," says the
16-year-old.

"My mum's family, they drink and smoke so she has seen the
consequences. I'm pretty much against it."

Nearby, Philip Tavega, 18, is waiting for a bus home to Mangere from
De La Salle College where he is in Year 13. Tavega admits to sculling
back pre-mixed bourbon and cola drinks on Saturdays at heavy drinking
sessions but says no to drugs.

"It's the girls who want to try new stuff, especially King's College
girls. They're naughty."

Tavega has other things on his mind. "I only go to parties to look for
girls. I'm not there to drink too much."

Students from King's College waiting on the platform had received
strict instruction from their school not to talk to media and
steadfastly refused to comment on the matter.

"I want to respect my headmaster," says one.

A King's College old boy, 18, would talk but didn't want to be
named.

He said cannabis and Ecstasy use and heavy drinking were widespread
when he was a student - never on campus but at parties outside school
time without parents' knowledge.

"I think it's because people had the finances to do those things," he
says.

Drug use was becoming more common: "When I was back in fifth form
people only used to take drugs every couple of months and now it has
become more like weekly."

He remembers drug education seminars while he was at school but no
drug checks.

"I presume the reason is if they did do checks half the people would
be expelled."

Some parents have turned to private investigators to monitor their
children's behaviour and try to find out what their children are up
to, particularly since the internet and cellphones have made it easy
for young people to make clandestine connections.

A Takapuna woman, who did not want to be named, became suspicious when
she noticed a change in her 15-year-old son's behaviour. He was surly
and uncommunicative - not uncommon for a teenager - but she became
increasingly concerned when she found legal party weed and cannabis in
his bag.

The woman had read about being able to track children's phones and
laptops so approached a private investigator for help. She is now able
to monitor his online communications, gets reports emailed to her of
his text conversations and uses that information to foil his
drug-taking plans.

"A lot of parents don't think about taking that step," she says.
"They're entitled to do it."

She sees it as a tool in trying to keep her child safe. "He'll say on
Facebook he's waiting for his parents to go to sleep to sneak out. So
you make sure you stay up."

Daniel Toresen, director of Thompson & Toresen Investigators, has
helped a growing number of parents concerned their children are
getting involved with drugs. He says for 14- to 16-year-olds the main
worry is cannabis. For those aged 17 and 18, it is
methamphetamine.

The key thing parents are after is the truth. "A lot of it is to have
the black and white proof of the text messages saying, Have you got
any P?' Putting that in front of the kid you can really engage without
the pretence of lies," says Toresen.

The digital world offers a mind-boggling array of surveillance
methods. Most smartphones, such as iPhones, can be converted into spy
devices that would be the envy of James Bond.

Applications will convert the phone into a listening and video tool
when the parent rings into it and it is also possible to have every
text message on the phone and every photograph taken on its camera
sent to an email address.

All the parent needs is access to the phone and the undetectable
application can be downloaded in an instant.

Using a programme such as eBlaster, a parent can email an attachment
of something as banal as a holiday snap and, when it's opened on their
child's computer, spyware will download that records every key stroke
and sends all information to the parent's email address. Passwords,
online chats, everything is recorded in a report.

"You don't have to be a technical expert to use this stuff,' says
Toresen. "A layperson can do it."

The teenagers hanging out in Newmarket were horrified to hear their
parents could employ such surveillance tactics but they doubt it would
curb substance usage, saying they would find ways around it. "That
would freak me out but it wouldn't stop me," says James.

Daniel Paikea runs Teen Challenge, an organisation designed to be the
"fence at the top of the cliff" to prevent young people falling into
substance abuse.

Paikea has overcome drug problems and says it is important to
understand the reasons people take drugs. He says when he asks young
people why they use, more than 95 per cent reply "to feel better".

Paikea believes severe drug use is a symptom of a problem, not the
root cause.

"I'll tell parents when a young person is walking into a bar, they're
buying a bottle of feelings. When they are going to a dealer, they are
buying a feeling," he says.

The teenagers who have progressed from experimental or social use of
drugs or alcohol to a life controlling problem are often dealing with
some form of trauma.

Sam Crosby, 18, a student at Albany Senior High College and chairman
of the Auckland Council Youth Advisory Panel, says there are varying
degrees of abuse and it's unfair to paint all youth with the same brush.

"Youth run the gamut of it, from not doing anything to trying it to
abusing it," Crosby says.

"It is an experimental time in your life and there is always going to
be some experimentation. No one is going to deny youth are using them
and some youth are abusing them but it's not solely a youth thing. I
think it's society's problem."

Having fun

Kate, 16: "I started in Year 11. That's only because I changed
friendship groups. It totally depends who your friends are. I wasn't
friends with anyone doing that so I was never around it. They never
pressured or anything."

Emma, 16: "That's the same for me. You don't feel pressure. It's just
everybody looks like they're having so much fun."

Table talk

Emma, 16: "I had a funny conversation with my dad last night about
shelving. It's when you shelve a pill up your bum. It was a lovely
dinner conversation. My parents were talking about after balls and my
brother was talking about how he went into the bathroom, he went to
King's, and there were guys doing lots of pills. My parents were like,
in our generation we didn't snort pills, we used to drop them because
it's so bad to snort. I was like, Yeah, what about shelving?' They
were like, What?' I was, Oh no, I thought you'd know'."

'Dirty' meth

Emma, 16: "We know a few people who do meth."

Anna, 16: "That's just crazy. We know them but we're not friends with
them. That's just disgusting."

Emma, 16: "It's a big step further."

Anna, 16: "I think it's a dirty drug. No offence, but it's only people
like prostitutes and dirty people who take that stuff."

Dinner drinks

Emma, 16: "I think the best thing parents can do is let them [their
teenagers] have a drink now and then with dinner so that when they
actually do start to drink they know how to handle themselves. Instead
of banning them from it and when they actually get out there they
vomit and do something stupid and maybe even overdose."

On the street

James, 16: "Right now if I went over to a dude [in Newmarket] and
said, Can I get a hundie [$100 bag of cannabis]?', he'd say, 'One
sec,' go and get it and be back in about a minute."

No worries

Andrew, 16: "The reason people take pills is you don't care about
tomorrow. It gives you that feeling of happiness where you just want
to be happy for that time. You're not worried about anything else in
your life."

If you suspect your child is using drugs

Warning signs that teenagers are using drugs can be difficult to
detect as they are often associated with normal teenage behaviour,
such as mood changes.

Talk to the teenager. Focus on showing concern and understanding the
issues they're facing. Don't be afraid to show feelings. If it makes
you feel sad to find out your teenager is using, it's okay to cry in
front of them. That reality can be beneficial in building a
relationship.

If the young person wants to stop abusing substances, this is the time
they need the most support.

Get help from the services available: Community Alcohol and Drugs
Services (CADS), Odyssey House, Alcohol and Drug Helpline: 0800 787 797.