Pubdate: Mon, 07 Jun 2004
Source: New Zealand Herald (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2004 New Zealand Herald
Contact:  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/300
Author: Jo-Marie Brown, Rosaleen MacBRAYNE and TONY GEE
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

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.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager