Drug workers get P pushers on run

Communities are finding ways to keep young people away from P and other drugs. JO-MARIE BROWN, ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE and TONY GEE examine what works.

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.