DRUG WORKERS GET P PUSHERS ON RUN

Communities Are Finding Ways To Keep Young People Away From P and Other Drugs.

MURUPARA

Murupara's anti-P campaign has been so successful that schoolchildren are
said to have drug dealers running scared.

Eight months ago, Murupara's community leaders and social service agencies
worked out a plan which other towns now aspire to follow.

District councillor Jacob Te Kurapa said Murupara's school students have
learned about the pitfalls of P and signs to watch for.

Young people who are approached, he said, are now saying to users, "we know
you, we're going to tell".

"People who use these drugs are scared about that," Mr Te Kurapa said.

"That information in one case led back to the authorities. The police kept
tabs on a certain individual and that person has subsequently left town."

Since the campaign started no P-related crime or methamphetamine lab has
been found in the area, and more than 25 people have approached counselling
and health services for help.

"We've taken a holistic approach to it. It's a wonderful example of a
community taking action and working together," Mr Te Kurapa said.

The idea behind the campaign was to organise events and activities that
people - especially youngsters - are interested in and at the same time
encourage them to steer clear of P.

One of their most popular events was "Murupara Idol", a singing competition
held over five weeks for primary and high school students.

"It was all about lifting their esteem and their confidence in their
ability to look somebody in the eye and say 'no' to drugs," Mr Te Kurapa said.

"To try and infuse that message in a positive manner such as this was
really good."

Sporting events and colouring-in competitions were also well received.

"P-free" logos have been designed for posters, coasters and stickers and,
once funding has been secured, large signs declaring Murupara to be P-free
will be erected on the four main roads in and out of the town.

Mr Te Kurapa said the message was being passed on at every opportunity -
through church sermons, Rotary meetings and marae gatherings.

Local kaumatua were also using their "wisdom and guidance" to speak to
those involved with P and ask them to stop.

A wearable arts festival promoting the anti-drug message is the next
planned event.

KAWERAU

With high unemployment and a young population, Kawerau has a tough job
ahead to stamp out drug use in its community.

But last month, more than 1200 people squeezed inside the local recreation
centre to help support a boxing event billed as the Fight Against Drugs,
organised by an ex-addict and former Mongrel Mob member concerned about the
damage drugs were doing.

Warwick Godfrey decided a boxing match featuring local police, firefighters
and current and former gang members, would be an ideal way to attract a
crowd and pass on the anti-drug message at the same time.

"It's about talking with your community and trying to attract as wide a
group of people as you can," Mr Godfrey said. "Using the medium of boxing
and bringing out role models who the young people will listen to really
worked."

With the police, safer community trust and local wananga, Mr Godfrey's next
project will be developing an education package for Kawerau's schools.

He hopes eventually to open a centre where youngsters can hang out
alongside positive role model.

Organising events is better than lecturing people, he believes, when you
need to get a message across.

"If your target market is the kids, then you have to look at either music
or sports. It has to be be something that appeals to them."

SOUTH WAIRARAPA

Nowhere is more aware of P's devastating effects than Featherston. It was
there, during a P-induced rage, that Steven Williams killed his 6-year-old
stepdaughter, Coral-Ellen Burrows, last September.

Since then, Tere Lenihan, co-ordinator of the Southern Wairarapa's safer
community council, has held a series of public meetings in Featherston and
nearby Carterton, Greytown and Martinborough in an attempt to work out a
way of halting the drug's rapid spread.

"It was all about talking to people in the community and saying, 'hey, you
can do something about it', because people were feeling quite powerless."

At each meeting the police spoke about the drug's effects and gave
statistics, and Ms Lenihan has been telling the story of how her son was a
P addict . It shows people that no one is immune.

Hundreds of people turned out to the meetings, which Ms Lenihan feels were
a great success. "I had P equipment left outside the back of my office
after one presentation, which was fantastic. It meant someone had heard."

Dozens of people, including mothers and high school students, now ring her
anonymously and ask for advice about people they suspect to be abusing the
drug.

Contact numbers for counselling and addiction services have been made
widely available and chemists in the region have been urged to monitor who
was buying pseudoephedrine products.

KAITAIA

At the forefront of anti-P efforts in the Far North is an iwi-based agency,
Te Oranga, which has been making presentations to groups as diverse as
Lions Clubs, health professionals, midwives and small rural settlements for
the past 18 months.

Co-ordinator Errol Murray said up to 100 people have turned out to the
meetings.

"People have to be informed. They have to know what's going on out there.
This is a terrible drug. It crosses every culture with a devastating effect."

The project's younger staff "pitch it" to young ones still at school, while
people who approach Te Oranga for help or advice about P can be counselled
or referred to other agencies if necessary, Mr Murray said.

A recent two-day P use "expo" at Kaitaia College targeted third and
fourth-formers. It looked at the law and physical effects of P use. Another
plan soon to start in Kaitaia involves an informal alliance of schools and
police under which, as a first step, teachers will be taught how to
recognise signs of P use and manufacture.

TAURANGA

A Western Bay of Plenty iwi, Ngaiterangi, has rallied behind frightened
kaumatua and kuia who have been victims of violence by young people in the
grip of P.

Paul Stanley, Tauranga project manager for Community Action on Youth and
Drugs, said those who had been assaulted or threatened with death - often
by their own mokopuna (grandchildren) - felt "very ashamed" and were
reluctant to talk about it.

"It is not too different from domestic violence in general," he said.

Victims feared retaliation and needed reassurance that it was not their
fault so social workers and counsellors from within the iwi were providing
one-on-one help.

Ngaiterangi's push against P has gained momentum and is now targeting the
wider community, both in the Western and Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Monthly meetings are held with representatives of other agencies, including
police, customs, Work and Income, Housing New Zealand, marae and health
services such as GPs.

Plans are under way to advertise an anti-P message on a billboard near
Tauranga city, for a push for more tertiary training of drug counsellors
and a total ban across the Bay of Plenty on pharmacies stocking
pseudoephedrine-based products.

"One tribe cannot do it on its own; it's just not possible. But a community
and a region can do a lot," said Mr Stanley.

WHAKATANE

The offer of free "party packs" to induce 9 to 12-year-olds as well as
teenagers to sample P has shocked Whakatane anti-drug educators.

Health promoter for Ngati Awa Social and Health Services, Johanna Wilson,
said the packs had been touted by older youths and contained a glass pipe,
a lighter and a small bag of methamphetamine.

"There is always the chance that some young people trying P will go on to
buy more and get hooked," said Mrs Wilson. She had heard from 10 parents
worried that their children might be tempted by the packs. "I'm pleased to
say none of those fell for it."

That showed the importance of parents and children being able to talk to
each other about the danger of drugs, Mrs Wilson said.

She and Ngati Awa's youth strategy co-ordinator, Annie Rogers-Marshall, are
Whakatane's "no need for speed" team. Since early 2003, the pair have been
talking to schools and community groups about P. From July, the team will
be targeting licensed premises to help reduce the supply of the drug.

Whakatane is one of the latest centres where the Community Action on Youth
and Drugs programme has been established.