Territory kids high on speed

Police believe NT children are abusing amphetamines. The drug squad said the evidence was anecdotal.

Drug squad boss Les Martin said police had heard from several sources - including reports to Crime Stoppers - that there was a small core of juveniles involved in ``speed''.

He said the evidence suggested that while the abuse involved ``a minority group'' the problem was across the Territory.

Senior Sergeant Martin said there was no evidence that it had reached indigenous
communities yet.

Two children have already faced court for amphetamine offences.

``One of them was supply charges,'' Sen-Sgt Martin said.

``The other one was because of the quantity of amphetamines involved.''

But he said it was unusual for juveniles to be brought before court.

``We're not apprehending juveniles for amphetamines,'' he said.

``Amphetamine use would be happening out there but we're not apprehending people
much less than 16 years old.

``We certainly have information from various sources that there may be some amphetamine abuse from a small section of juveniles.''

He said the main drug problem among juvenile users in the Territory was cannabis.

``Cannabis is still their drug of choice,'' he said.

Sen-Sgt Martin said police had no operations specifically targeting children involved with amphetamines.

``If we had the resources free and available then we would take that on as a
specialised operation,'' he said.

Newshawk: http://www.tuf.org.au
Pubdate: 27th April 2004
Source: Northern Territory News
Author: Edith Bevin
Url: http://www.ntnews.com.au
Email: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Copyright: 2004 Northern Territory News