DRUG ACTION TEAMS COMING, BUT NOT TILL NEXT YEAR

Government-funded drug education for young people using substances such as
methamphetamine will not be available until next year.

The Ministry of Health says 15 community-owned "drug action teams" will be
based in places identified as being in "greatest need".

Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton, who chairs the Ministerial Committee
on Drug Policy, said this year's Budget allocated $2.55 million a year to
address the drug problem at a community level.

However, he said the teams, called Community Action Initiatives, would not
be up and running until next year.

The ministry was still researching communities with greatest need, but when
the plan did start it would address young people's relationship with illicit
drugs.

That could be too late for some, says the head of the Foundation for Drug
and Alcohol Education, Colin Bramfitt. He says politicians need to help
communities with the methamphetamine problem now.

Other government departments have also started working on the P problem. The
Ministry of Education says education about methamphetamine in secondary
schools falls under the wider mental health and physical education
curriculum. Individual schools could decide whether to tackle the P problem
specifically.

However, in response to the "increasing apparent use" of P, the ministry is
working with police, the Ministry of Health, the Drug Foundation, the Dare
Foundation and teachers and senior students to provide a community action
plan on drugs.

A youth education service curriculum officer with the police, Gill Palmer,
said the community action plan was sparked by police officers on the ground
who received requests from secondary schools wondering what to do about P.
The plan included packages for boards of trustees and principals, teachers,
peer educators and parents. Police would provide in-school training for
teachers.

In the classroom, students would use role-play techniques to discuss drugs
in drama and work with drug abuse statistics in maths.

The parents' package would contain information about drugs in general, how
to tell if their child might be using drugs, and where to get help.

However, Ms Palmer did not expect pilot programmes to start in communities
until early next year. "If you do something thoroughly, it does take time."

Herald Feature: The P epidemic
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storyarchive.cfm?reportID=3D1162612