NEWS: Sniffer dogs in high schools

[This_is_my_alias]

from:http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18395836-28793,00.html


Sniffer dogs in high schools
From: By Jane Metlikovec
March 09, 2006
VICTORIAN school principals are hiring sniffer dogs to pace their corridors in a bid to curb rampant playground drug dealing.

Detector Dogs Australia said it has searched about 50 secondary schools in the past year, and found drugs in almost half.
The dogs sniffed out stashes of cocaine, speed and cannabis.

Government, independent and Catholic schools in Melbourne, Bendigo and Gippsland were among those to bring in sniffer dogs.

The Victorian Principals Association confirmed it knew of at least six state secondary school principals who had hired dogs during the past year.

"Schools are using sniffer dogs as part of a range of surveillance activities to ensure that they are as drug-free as possible," association president Andrew Blair said.

A Herald Sun Insight investigation into youth and drugs also revealed:


ALMOST half of 80 secondary students surveyed by Insight had seen drugs and drug deals at their school.

POLICE charge at least one young teenager a week with drug offences.

A 10-YEAR-OLD boy was among more than 2000 under-19s charged with drug offences in 2004-05.

AT least one teenager a week is charged with cultivating, manufacturing or trafficking drugs.

MORE than 1900 youths were treated by ambulance officers in 2004, including a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old who took ecstasy and LSD.

ABOUT five under-21s are treated for drugs each night in Melbourne.

YOUNG Victorians make more than 250,000 visits a year to mental health services, about 70 per cent suffering disorders related to drug abuse.

ALMOST half of offenders in juvenile detention centres were using drugs when they committed their last crime, according to an Australian Institute of Criminology survey.

THE survey also revealed almost 44 per cent of young burglars robbed homes to buy drugs.
Detector Dogs director Neville Williams said his dogs had searched some schools this year, including a northern suburbs private school on the first day back from holidays.

"On average, we probably go through four secondary schools a month throughout Victoria and we have found lots of drugs," he said.

Most kept the drug finds secret.

Mr Williams said two large cannabis stashes had been found inside school lockers in the past year, with one at a top Melbourne school.

Drug dog searches cost about $300.

A spokesman for Education Minister Lynne Kosky refused to comment on the sniffer dogs.

And a Department of Education spokeswoman said the department was not aware of the practice.

Neville Williams, of Detector Dogs, said most drugs were found in lockers while students were in classrooms.

It was up to schools to decide how to deal with drug offenders identified during searches, he said.

"Once the dogs hit their target, we are out of there."

Principals Association president Andrew Blair said state schools usually had a number of anti-drug measures in place.

"Five years ago, principals would have been much more hesitant, but now they are prepared to consider sniffer dogs as an option," he said.

"I know of six schools who have used them in the past year as part of a range of surveillance activities."

The Catholic Education Office said it was unaware of school principals hiring sniffer dogs.

"The Catholic system is very autonomous so we wouldn't necessarily know if it is happening in Catholic schools or not," spokesman David Ahern said.

"It wouldn't surprise me because I heard of it happening in South Australia, when a few of the big schools did it last year."

Association of Independent Schools chief executive Michelle Green said she had never heard of sniffer dogs in private schools.

"I would be very surprised if I were told it was becoming a widespread practice," she said.

 

[hoptis]

This was part of a Herald Sun Insight report on drugs and youth, the rest of the articles are as follows.

Append to article above

Several secondary students told Insight they would welcome sniffer dogs at their school.

Year 10 student Ellie, 15, from Greensborough, said sniffer dogs were a good idea.

"It would be good to have sniffer dogs searching school because then we would know that we were safe from drugs," Ellie said.

Matt, 15, a private school student from Montmorency, said sniffer dog searches would not bother him.

"I wouldn't care if dogs came to our school because I have nothing to hide," he said.

 

[hoptis]

Pupils see drug deals in playground
Jane Metlikovec
09 Mar 2006

SECONDARY school students are witnessing playground drug deals at an alarming rate.

Insight surveyed 80 Victorian students aged 13-18 about teenage drug use, and found almost half had seen drugs at school.

Forty-eight per cent said drugs were easy to get on school grounds if they wanted them.

More than 40 per cent of 14-year-olds had seen drugs at school, while all the 18-year-olds said drugs were easy to get on campus during school hours.

Despite their obvious availability, only 34 per cent of the students admitted to smoking cannabis in the past year, while 13 per cent of 14-year-olds had also tried the drug.

Only 7 per cent of students said they had taken ecstasy, and 6 per cent had tried speed, including one 17-year-old who said she took both drugs most weekends.

Some students told Insight they had seen fellow students taking drugs on school grounds.

Anthony, 16, from Hawthorn, said drugs were popular at his old Camberwell school.

"I have seen people at school smoking cannabis," he said. "It didn't bother me really."

Danny, 17, from Traralgon, said he had also seen drugs at school.

"I don't see them that often, but I have seen people with a bit of cannabis on them," he said.

Meg, 15, from Coburg North, said she had also seen drugs at school.

"At my previous school there were lots of drugs going around," Meg said.

"People were smoking cannabis a bit."

Maggie, 15, from Forest Hill, said she had never seen drugs at her school.

"I think they would be easy to get from people at school," she said.

Lauren, 17, from Traralgon, said she had not seen any drugs at her government school.

"I haven't seen them at school, but I have seen plenty at parties," she said. "I think they would be easy to get at school."

The Australian Drug Foundation's director of the Centre for Youth Drug Studies, Dr Jane Mallick, said the survey results were not surprising.

"Drugs are very available to young people," Dr Mallick said.

"Whether that is on the school grounds or not, if young people want them, many will know how to get them."

From Herald Sun

 

[hoptis]

Drugs put two a day into hospital
09 Mar 2006

TWO young Victorians end up in hospital every day after trying to harm themselves with drugs.

Alarming research compiled by the Victorian Injury Surveillance and Applied Research System shows a child aged 10-14 ends up in hospital every four days after attempting to overdose on drugs.

Most teenagers are overdosing on prescription or pharmaceutical medicines, not illicit substances.

The figures, from 1999-2004, show 413 young people aged 10-14 intended to harm themselves with drugs and wound up in hospital.

A staggering 2633 teenagers aged 15-19 were also put in hospital after intentionally harming themselves.

Dr Dan Lubman, from ORYGEN Youth Health, said the majority of young people overdosing would have mental health and other substance abuse problems.

"It would be a combination of that and not knowing what to do to overcome their problems," he said.

ANYONE with personal problems can call Lifeline on 131 114;

Victorian Statewide Suicide Helpline on 1300 651 251; or Mensline Australia on 1300 789 978.

From Herald Sun

 

[hoptis]

Troubles fuelled by drug use
Jane Metlikovec
09 Mar 2006

RECORD numbers of young Victorians are experiencing mental health problems as their substance abuse spirals out of control.

Almost 5500 people aged 15-24 received hospital care for a psychiatric illness in 2003-04, according to research compiled by ORYGEN Youth Health.

And people aged 15-24 made 139,676 more visits to a mental health service in 2003-04 than in 2002-03.

They made 253,351 visits to a mental health service in 2003-04, compared with 113,675 in 2002-03.

Up to 70 per cent of young people with a mental health problem may also have a substance abuse disorder, the research says.

One of the most common drug-related mental health problems is depression, with more than 41,000 young Victorians treated for depression and psychoses in 2003-04.

These problems can be linked with abusing cannabis and the amphetamine-based drug ice.

Another 23,000 people aged 15-34 were treated for generalised anxiety disorder, also linked with abusing cannabis, ecstasy, and alcohol.

University of Melbourne senior lecturer and ORYGEN mental health specialist Dan Lubman said there was a strong link between drug abuse and the development of mental health problems in young people.

"People who are addicted to drugs become focused on just using, and gradually lose interest in other activities in their life," he said.

"They frequently develop financial problems and may lose their job or fall out of studying.

"They are also more likely to isolate themselves from their family and friends. That isolation can lead to depression and other problems."

Dr Lubman said many young people also developed drug addictions as a result of attempting to self-medicate mental health problems.

That was the case for John, now 25, of West Melbourne. After breaking up with his girlfriend of four years in his early 20s, John fought an onset of major depression by drinking to excess and taking ecstasy, speed, and prescription drugs.

"It was pretty awful at the time," he said. "I started getting quite violent towards myself as well, and I threw myself through a window and ended up in hospital."

After six hospital stays, John was admitted to ORYGEN Youth Health's program in Parkville, where he saw a mental health clinician regularly.

"I had a fair bit of substance withdrawal, but as it wore off my depression went sky high," he said.

"I was left to deal with all these emotions that I was usually smothering with substances."

John, who still takes anti-depressants, is now the CEO of his own IT company. He said young people should talk about their problems.

"If I had just admitted to my mates that I wasn't coping at all, I probably wouldn't have ended up where I was," he said.

But many people in similar situations are unable to get help, Dr Lubman said.

"Unfortunately many of these young people are simply being bounced between services, and are not actually getting the treatment they need," he said.

ORYGEN, which recently won $54 million in federal cash to establish a national youth mental health foundation, is developing a series of checks for health practitioners to help them identify mental health illnesses.

ORYGEN is seeking people aged 18 to 25 for a study on depression and co-occurring substance use disorder, with the aim of improving treatment. Call 9342 2884.

From Herald Sun

 

[hoptis]

$8.50 is the price of a life
Jane Metlikovec
09 Mar 2006

Heartbreak: a portrait of Jaye Wilson looks over his family, sister Shelley, 13, parents Ron and Vikki, and brother Reid, 10. Picture: Bill McAuley

JUST $8.50 killed her son, says Vikki Wilson.

The devastated mum knows the heartbreak caused by the sickeningly cheap street drug GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate).

Her son Jaye Wilson, 17, and his friend, 19, were killed when the car Jaye was driving swerved and hit a tree on the Goulburn Valley Highway near Tocumwal in the state's north on March 25 last year.

Jaye had taken a cocktail of GHB and marijuana, bought for $8.50 from a local dealer.

"It is so cheap and so easy to get," Ms Wilson said.

"I am damn sure that if it was $80 there would be no way Jaye would have forked out the money for it."

Jaye and his friend had set out from Jaye's home, which is just north of Cobram, to drive a friend to a nearby town about 8.30pm.

Less than an hour later the youths were dead and Vikki and husband Ron's nightmare began.

"I was at home and a girlfriend of mine came in and told me Jaye had been in an accident," she said.

"We went straight to the scene and I knew he was gone even before the police told me it was a double fatality."

Almost a year on and the family, including daughter Shelley, 13, and son Reid, 10, have endured Jaye's 18th birthday and a heart-wrenching inquest into his death.

"His 18th birthday was in October, and we made stubby holders with a picture of him on it," Ms Wilson said. She said his friends came over on the day, which made it easier to cope.

Ms Wilson said the December inquest into the accident was worse than the funeral, when hundreds turned out to farewell Jaye at the Cobram Civic Centre.

"The inquest devastated us," Ms Wilson said. "There were no recommendations made about what should be done about drug driving and it felt like a total waste of time that just opened fresh wounds."

Mr Wilson said he wanted to warn parents about the dangers of drugs, and hopefully spare other families the pain his has suffered.

"The drug problem is a lot worse than we realise," he said.

"Jaye was just your average country teenager. He was into cars and music and girls and was no worse than any other average kid.

"He didn't appear to be into drugs at all."

Mr Wilson said all parents should educate themselves about drugs and talk openly with their children.

"So much goes on without the older generation knowing," he said. "Talk to your kids and emphasise the dangers of taking drugs and also taking drugs and driving."

Ms Wilson said all parents needed to be aware just how widespread the drug is.

GHB -- also known as liquid ecstasy or grievous bodily harm -- shot to notoriety in February last year when nurse Belinda Davey, 21, died in a drug dealer's car outside a Melbourne club. She was Victoria's first reported victim of a fatal GHB overdose.

From Herald Sun

 

[AlexxRed]

If there is a problem with drugs in school this seems like a VERY Inappropriate over the top measure. Running sniffer dogs through school, effectivly turns it into prison environment.

It is draconian and would probably only detract from a positive learning environment that teachers a might already be struggling to maintain.

If there are dealers comming onto school grounds I can't see how sniffer dogs are going to target the *actual* problem. Chances are your not going to catch the dealers, just kids thats have bought something. Hanging them out to dry is going to probably going to them being institutionalised or worse.

Rather than sniffer dogs maybe more funding should go to the schools if they have this type of problem. That could be staff or personal to make sure that no one is comming onto school grounds that should not be there.

If it's students that are doing the "dealing" it could be picked up and dealt with effectively with more staff, and a program of drug education thats equals than just "say no to drugs"!!

 

[Diacetylus]

His 18th birthday was in October, and we made stubby holders with a picture of him on it

Not to be disrespectful to Ms Wilson's son or anything. But, do you think if alcohol were the culprit behind this car accident, she would be still making "stubby-holders" on her child's 18th birthday?
I was just curious, that's all.

 

[hoptis]

Ecstasy abuse booming in kids
10 Mar 2006

CHILDREN as young as 10 have been rushed to Victorian hospitals after overdosing on drugs.

Ambulance officers have also taken 13-year-old LSD users to emergency departments. More have been treated for methamphetamine-related problems.

Data from Turning Point Drug and Alcohol Centre shows more than 1900 under-21s were treated by ambulance officers for drug-related problems in 2004.

More than 350 of those were treated for ecstasy, GHB, amphetamines, marijuana and LSD-related illnesses, while almost 150 were treated for heroin-related overdoses and symptoms.

St John Ambulance spokesman Alan Eade said: "The growth of ecstasy has been quite astounding.

"The youngest person treated recently by an ambulance was a 10-year-old who had taken ecstasy from an older sibling."

Mr Eade said many teenagers were also taking paper-soaked doses of LSD, which can send users into psychosis. "LSD is a transient drug for young people who can't afford pills," Mr Eade said.

But now ambulance officers have new problems to contend with.

The popularity of methamphetamine -- which includes the drugs speed and ice -- among teenagers is unprecedented, and has been named the fastest growing drug in Victoria by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.

Mr Eade said it was methamphetamine and not ecstasy putting the majority of young people in hospital.

He said ambulance officers were particularly concerned about young people bingeing on speed and falling into drug-induced psychoses.

"These people can experience extreme paranoia and become violent, and we refer them to hospital immediately," Mr Eade said.

But despite ever-increasing illicit drug use among young people, alcohol and prescription drug combinations are responsible for the majority of drug-related calls to ambulance services in Victoria.

Officers attended more than 800 calls for "other drug-related attendances" for under 21s in 2004.

They included treating young people for over-the-counter and/or prescription drug-related illnesses.

From Herald Sun

 

[hoptis]

Day 2 of the Insight special from the Herald Sun, which also included this article

Bravery of drug addicts kicking the habit
Jane Metlikovec
10 Mar 2006

LIN has been a heroin dealer and user for 10 years.

She has spent three weeks in jail on remand for drug trafficking.

She deals to support her $500-a-day habit and the longest she has gone without heroin or withdrawal drugs is six months.

She is only 24.

Two weeks into her latest attempt to become drug-free, Lin is determined to kick what feels like a lifelong habit through a methadone program run by Footscray outreach organisation Open Family.

"I left home and moved into a house with friends when I was 14," Lin said.

"I started using because the people I was with were users and I started selling to support that."

Lin was last in jail six months ago.

She knows if she gets caught dealing drugs again she will be forced to serve her six-month suspended sentence in Deer Park, which is why she is trying methadone again.

Adam, 20, dealt drugs at school when he was 15.

He loved the way friends and girls would flock to him because he had something they wanted: heroin.

He used heroin to get over the pain of his mother's death and developed a $500-a-day habit that he only kicked last year when the heroin drought hit Melbourne.

"It was too hard to get and too expensive," Adam said.

"I would tell young people that dealing is not worth it. I have even had a knife against my throat."

Now taking withdrawal drug buprenorphine, Adam has casual factory work and is determined to stay clean.

Both Lin and Adam were among almost 50 young people who visited the doctor service at Footscray's Open Family on Thursday last week.

Most were getting prescriptions for withdrawal drugs.

Street outreach worker Richard Tregear said he admired the spirit of the people he saw through Open Family.

"We have a saying in Australia, 'love over gold', and I can tell you that heroin leaves both of them in its wake," he said.

"We have young people who start trying to give up at 14 and they are looking something in the eye, something that's much more powerful and stronger than love or money, and saying, 'I am going to try and get on top of you and defeat this attraction'.

"It is their bravery that is the most outstanding thing to me."

From Herald Sun

 

[hoptis]

Mother knows the torment of drugs
Jane Metlikovec
10 Mar 2006

ROSIE Parker knows the terror of having a drug-addicted child.

The Yarrambat woman has seen her teenage son Luke collapse in a drug-induced psychosis.

Ms Parker and husband Dean have sat by Luke's bedside as his eyes rolled and he sweated all his drug demons away.

Constantly fighting with his older sister and unable to hold down a job, Luke, then 18, would often return home drug-addled and angry. "We had no experience in dealing with drug problems, and no one to talk to who would understand," Ms Parker said.

"He was totally off his face all the time. I found marijuana in his room, and we didn't know what to do."

Having had a son who was dabbling in drugs since he was 15, and who was a cannabis addict soon after, Ms Parker knows the frustration families come up against in the face of drugs.

"I remember spending the night that he collapsed full of anxiety just watching him and making sure he was breathing," Ms Parker said.

"After Luke got up, I said to my husband, 'I just can't take this any more' and rang up a hospital to see where I could get help."

Unable to find a detoxification and rehabilitation centre in Victoria, the family made the tough decision to send Luke to South Australia on the advice of a hospital.

After three months, Luke returned home drug-free and ready to regain his life.

Now 20, Luke is at university and also working.

He is nothing like the boy who put his family through hell.

Ms Parker still worries Luke might one day return to drugs, but is now concentrating on helping families of other addicts.

She volunteers as a helpline counsellor for Family Drug Help, a Melbourne-based organisation that offers counselling and support groups for families of drug users.

"From what I have lived through I have learned how important it is to be able to talk to people and not suffer alone," Ms Parker said. "It is so rewarding for me to help other people going through the same thing."

Family Drug Help received 6000 calls from distraught families of drug users in the past year.

Spokeswoman Angela Ireland said the organisation gave much-needed support to families when they were at their lowest.

"A child with a drug problem is a terrifying thing for families to deal with," Ms Ireland said.

"It feels overwhelming and many people feel their parenting is a disaster."

Ms Ireland said it was necessary for families of young people with drug problems to seek help for themselves.

"It is important to talk to people and seek support to stop feeling alone and powerless," Ms Ireland said.

From Herald Sun

 

[hoptis]

Mid-week drug price cuts
10 Mar 2006

CASH-strapped teens are buying discount drugs mid-week before hitting Melbourne dance clubs over the weekend.

Insight spent a recent Friday night at the Palace, in St Kilda, where its weekly Bass Station dance party was in full swing.

"Everybody is buying their drugs from their own dealers these days," dance scene stalwart Tim James, 25, said.

"They are getting cheap deals during the week, so they are stocking up before they go out. Only stupid people are buying them on the weekend out the front of clubs."

Mr James said dealers were locking teens into drug deals early in the week to escape increased police scrutiny and other dangers at weekends.

He said many dealers had been scared away from venue-based drug pushing by recent turf wars, which led to a person being stabbed near the St Kilda club last week.

Mr James said the popularity of mid-week discounts -- up to $10 less per ecstasy tablet, making them as little as $20 each -- left many dealers at home on what were once the busiest nights of the week.

Within minutes of arriving in the Palace parking lot, Insight was offered ecstasy tablets for $30 each by a group of teenagers who had travelled from country Victoria.

Rebecca, 19, said none of her group of four friends had taken any drugs, despite sitting in their parked car outside the venue for more than an hour.

"None of us are into drugs at all," she said.

From Herald Sun

 

[hoptis]

Drug mix a trip to casualty
Jane Metlikovec
10 Mar 2006

THOUSANDS of young Victorians end up in hospital after taking dangerous cocktails of ecstasy, speed and prescription medicines.

Almost 2500 young people were admitted to hospital in 2004 after drug binges. Up to half had abused at least two substances, a leading emergency doctor said.

Dealers were selling the cocktails in a job lot.

A Herald Sun Insight report yesterday revealed school principals had hired sniffer dogs to pace their corridors to curb playground drug dealing.

It also revealed almost half the offenders in juvenile detention centres had used drugs when they committed their last crime, and 44 per cent of young burglars robbed homes to buy drugs.

Figures released by Turning Point Drug and Alcohol Centre show 97 per cent of regular ecstasy users combine it with other drugs.

Findings from the 2005 Party Drug Initiative also reveal about 88 per cent of users took other drugs when "coming down".

Dealers are capitalising on the trend. Some offer prescription sedatives, such as valium, for $15 with every ecstasy tablet.

Others are selling seratonin-based come-down drugs imported from the US for more than the average ecstasy pill price of $25.

St Vincent's Hospital physician Venita Munir said the most common mixes that put young people in hospital were ecstasy and GHB or ecstasy and speed.

Mixing ecstasy with valium, anti-depressants and sleeping pills is also landing people in hospital as young bodies struggle to cope with the effects of double-dosing.

St Vincent's treats up to seven people every weekend, and has seen about 200 under-25s in the past year.

Half of them took at least two illicit drugs.

"The most concerning thing we see are young people coming in unconscious with poly-drug overdoses," she said.

"Mixing drugs definitely increases your risk. You are going to have more side effects, which may make you worse."

Most young patients turned up at hospital with altered conscious states, increased heart rate, anxiety and inability to sleep -- and generally spent about three hours in hospital.

But many more were unconscious. "That is not surprising because that's what the drug does," Dr Munir said.

From Herald Sun

 

[hoptis]

EDITORIAL
Hounding out drugs
10 Mar 2006

WE trust schools to be a sanctuary for our young. We would like to believe our children are safe from harm inside their gates.

It is disturbing, then, to find that illicit drugs are rife in secondary schools.

But it is encouraging, too, that many schools are taking it upon themselves to tackle the scourge head-on.

Principals, not prepared to accept drugs in the schoolyard as an unpleasant fact of modern life, have brought in sniffer dogs.

And the extreme action was vindicated by an alarmingly high rate of detection.

Drugs were found in almost half of the 50 schools searched, public and private.

While those schools are loath to publicise the finds, they put themselves in a position to try to help young users kick drugs before they become a lifestyle.

And they removed harm from the way of other youngsters inclined to experiment.

Most schools are proactive in educating children about the real damage drugs can do. From primary school, life education encourages them to respect their bodies.

Advice and education, however, have their limits.

Regrettably, detection and zero tolerance in the playground are necessary adjuncts to protect our children.

Principals who act, rather than watch on helpless, are to be congratulated.

From Herald Sun

 

[Fry-d-]

Cheers for posting all the articles Hoptis