No surprise here!
Schoolies seeking Bindeez as black market opens up
By Robyn Ironside, Courier Mail
November 09, 2007
SCHOOLIES seeking drug-contaminated Bindeez on the black market have been warned by health authorities the banned toy was "dangerous".
Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young has appealed to young people to resist the temptation of swallowing Bindeez beads, found to contain the date-rape drug GHB or Fantasy.
Dr Young admitted she was "very, very concerned young people would go out and experiment" with the beads, now banned throughout Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and North America.
"They've got to treat them as a dangerous drug, because that's what they are," she said.
Eight children have been admitted to hospital after ingesting the beads following confirmation of two more cases in Canada yesterday.
A toddler from Toowoomba, three children from New South Wales and two more in New Zealand have also received hospital treatment.
The New South Wales' Opposition Fair Trading spokeswoman Catherine Cusack said yesterday measures were needed to remove from the community boxes of Bindeez that had already been sold.
Black market potential
"I've heard stories of people actually offering to buy these beads and so there's a real potential now for a black market, in a very dangerous form of drug taking," she said.
But Drug Arm's director of addiction research and education Caroline Salom said "there were easier ways to get GHB than by swallowing dozens of plastic beads".
She said the chance of Bindeez being circulated at Schoolies' Week celebrations on the Gold Coast next week were remote as most celebrating students were "hell bent on drinking lots of alcohol".
Meanwhile, the principal of a Cairns Catholic school where four Year 7 children were referred to a doctor on Wednesday after being seen with Bindeez said the incident was "completely innocent".
Education Queensland said there had been no other incidents of children taking Bindeez to school, since the beads were banned this week.
Premier Anna Bligh said the case highlighted how more stringent testing of toys was needed to protect children.
Attorney-General Kerry Shine said those using the toy for recreational drug purposes could still face prosecutions under the Drugs Misuse Act.
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