Pubdate: Sat, 07 Jun 2003 Source: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand) Copyright: Allied Press Limited, 2003 Contact: http://www2.odt.co.nz Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/925 HELP PLAN FOR PANICKING PARENTS Palmerston North: Parents urgently need education so they can help their children who get involved with drugs such as methamphetamines, drug education agency Drug-Arm Palmerston North chairman Lew Findlay says. Mr Findlay said most middle-class parents were shocked when they found their teenage children were involved with drugs. The police anti-drug programme Dare (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) has just been given $10,000 by the Palmerston North Rotary Club to start parent education courses in Manawatu. Mr Findlay said parents were desperate for help. "We get calls every week from parents, and they're distraught. They've found stuff in their kid's room, their kid has been suspended from school, or they've had a call from their child's friends' parents telling them about drug involvement," Mr Findlay said. "They basically find out by accident, and they haven't got a clue what to do." Drug-Arm did some education work for families but resources were meagre. "We've sent out 400 information packs to worried parents in the past four months alone. Probably about one-third of those families come in to Drug-Arm to talk to us," Mr Findlay said. The first stages of drug use were often picked up when families noticed things going missing - taken by the child to sell for drugs. Little electrical appliances that were not used often, CDs, jewellery, stuff with immediate resale value and packs of coffee were examples Mr Findlay gave. "If things aren't checked then, there'll be a mysterious burglary and bigger things taken." Mr Findlay said the hardest thing to do was not destroy family members' trust in each other. "Much better to educate kids about saying no to drugs in the first place. That's what the Dare programme is doing - getting them when they're 8 to 10. That's the right age, because kids who get into drugs are 12, 13, 14," Mr Findlay said. Palmerston North police youth education officer Bob Filbee said Dare parents' education would be an eight-hour programme, held at weekends or over several weeks at night. "We know a lot of parents panic when they find their kids are into drugs. They beat themselves up and ask where they've gone wrong," Mr Filbee said. "This programme will give advice; teach you how to talk to your kids about drugs; make experts available to talk with you." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake