DRUGS, ALCOHOL PART OF GROWING UP IN NZ - US PSYCHIATRIST

Drug and alcohol use is an accepted part of growing up in New Zealand, says
an American child psychiatrist.

While most of the issues facing young people in New Zealand and the United
States were the same, one obvious difference was the general complacency in
the New Zealand society towards the use of alcohol and soft drugs amongst
teenagers, Joe Babinski, who has just taken up a permanent position with
the Nelson-Marlborough District Health Board, said.

Dr Babinski worked as a child psychiatrist in North Carolina for 14 years
before moving to New Zealand in July last year.

"There seems to be a laissez-faire attitude in families and in the
population in general towards alcohol and drugs. Alcohol and cannabis use
is viewed as part and parcel of normal adolescent life," Dr Babinski said.

"In the (United) States I've seen third generation cocaine users. But in
general, there is more of a hard line towards drug use."

Drug and alcohol use is widely acknowledged as a trigger for mental health
problems and alcohol is a common cause of depression, both in adults and
teenagers.

Last month Marlborough coroner Peter Radich described the link between
cannabis use and youth suicide as "difficult to ignore".

Latest OECD figures show New Zealand has the highest rate of suicide in the
developed world for young people under 25.

Drug Awareness Relief Movement (Drug Arm) Marlborough spokesman Paul
Fletcher said he had noticed an increasing acceptance of drug and alcohol
use over the last five years.

Many families were aware of drug use and many drunk young teenagers on
Blenheim streets got their alcohol from parents, he said.

The ageing of the 1960s and 1770s generations meant increased acceptance of
drug use across society, Mr Fletcher said.

"It's become socially acceptable to smoke dope in all age groups, even
though it's illegal. I had a 55-year-old tell me the other day he watched a
movie and didn't get much out of it so he had a joint and watched it again."

Mr Fletcher said the Government's approach increasingly seemed to be a case
of "If it's too hard to sort out we will legalise it".

He argued a harder line, with prosecution and stiffer penalties for
cannabis possession, was needed to prevent drug use from spiralling out of
control.

Alcohol and Drug Association chief executive Paul Traynor agreed the level
of social acceptance of drug and alcohol use was too high, including
elderly dependence on pain relievers and prescription drugs.

However he believed the best way to tackle the issue was to provide
positive role models.

"The only way we will see change is when our leadership starts to model the
behaviour we want to see. Right across the board - at parental level, in
schools, in the ministry. Everybody needs to wake up and say this is our
problem. It's too often fobbed off as a youth problem."