Pubdate: Tue, 04 Oct 2005 Source: Dominion Post, The (New Zealand) Copyright: 2005 The Dominion Post Contact: http://www.dompost.co.nz Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2550 Author: Rebecca Palmer START CAMPAIGN AGAINST DRUG USE SAYS CORONER Drug education and policy need to shift from minimising the danger of substance abuse by young people to stopping it, Wellington coroner Garry Evans says. Mr Evans has issued his findings into the deaths of six young people, aged 15 to 27, from solvent abuse. Three had inhaled butane; the others lpg, propane gas and air freshener. None of the deaths were intentional. Mr Evans has made six recommendations to Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton, who chairs the ministerial committee on drug policy, and to Health Minister Annette King, several government ministries and health experts. They include a national public education campaign to discourage the use of illicit drugs by children and young people. There had been no sustained and effective health education programme aimed at preventing drug taking that corresponded to the effective campaigns mounted by the Health Ministry against drunken driving and cigarette smoking, Mr Evans said in his findings into the death of Haley Danielle Foster. Haley, 15, died in December 2003 after inhaling air freshener. Mr Evans said the Government's national drug policy, which is under review, should focus not on minimising the harm caused by young people using drugs but on preventing it. He did not recommend criminalising solvent abuse, but rather a focus on substance abuse education and policy. His recommendations include using trained specialists to deliver drug education programmes in schools. Haley's mother, Sherryl Foster, backed the recommendations, saying drug education programmes should be provided by specialists. "I hope it all gets actioned, that it doesn't fall by the wayside." Showing young people the consequences of substance abuse was more effective than talking about it, she said. After Haley's death, she took several of her daughter's friends to the mortuary to say goodbye and "to sort of hammer it home that this is (what is) going to happen". Several witnesses who gave evidence at the inquests criticised the national drug policy's focus on harm minimisation, and on accepting drug use as a reality and trying to reduce the effects. WellTrust drug educator Pauline Gardiner said solvent abuse was increasing and drug policies were not working. Mr Evans said it was inappropriate to talk of "safe choices" in the case of children and young people. The evidence showed "a need for a paradigmal shift in consciousness and approach toward a societal problem that constitutes a major blight upon young lives and is reaching crisis proportions", he said. Mr Anderton said yesterday that a campaign against substance abuse could just encourage people who had not used drugs or solvents to use them. "If we can find a way of doing it that's not more dangerous than doing nothing, I'm all in favour of it." Anti-drug messages were being communicated to young people. "But with the best will in the world we know that there are still drugs being taken and we try to reduce harm." Health officials would carefully consider Mr Evans' recommendations, Mr Anderton said. The draft review of the drug policy would be finished this year or early next year. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D