Drug book authors fly by night

Press, 17 November 1981, Page 6

Drug book authors fly by night

By

FELICITY PRICE

Within two months of advertising a mail order “Special Report” on drugs for $9.99, a Christchurch “Parental Concern Group” has disappeared. “Protect the future of your child,” said the advertisement in the “New Zealand Times” on September 20. “Drugs are available at schools, universities, socials, even sports and cultural clubs. Regrettably your children are exposed to the dangerous influence of drugs almost everywhere they go, and. children are particularly vulnerable to pressure from friends and peer groups. ■. “This special report contains information you need to know .to safeguard your child

. .- . Most important, it lists the steps you should be taking now to protect your child’s precious future.” Readers of the advertisement were urged to send

$9.99 to “Parental Concern Group,” at a Christchurch postal box number, to obtain a copy of the “Special Report.” Underneath the. box. number was an address: 130 Hereford Street. Personal calls to the tiny office marked “Parental Concern Group” at that address since the advertisement appeared have drawn a blank: blinds have been drawn and the door has remained locked.

Inquiries by the Department of Trade and Industry into the high price being charged for the “Special Report” showed,that the rent on the office was two months in arrears. The rent had been paid a month in advance on September 1, and nothing had been paid since. "It certainly looks like a fly-by-night operation,” a department spokesman, said. “It follows the pattern: whoever it was got in

quickly and got away quickly. There are no names to follow up, no clues to the identity of the group. We have come to a blank wall.” At $9.99, the “Special Report” is undeniably overpriced. The contents are also of dubious value.

It consists of eight photocopied pages of A 4 typescript and briefly describes some of the illegal drugs available in New Zealand, why some people take them, and some suggestions on how they might be stopped from tak-. ing them. The report should, have cost no more than $1.50 to produce, including typing fees, at commercial rates. Dr John Dobson, clinician-in-charge of the North Canterbury Hospital Board Drug Dependence Service, said that the “report” tained many inconsistencies and and was of questionable value. “Just on $lO for it is a

highly inflated price.” he said. “Even if it cost only a dollar, it still would not be worth it.” Dr Dobson said that for $1.50, concerned parents would be much better off buying - “Drugs Demystified,” by Helen Nowlis, from the Government Bookshop. This was an authoritative book about drugs and was particularly valuable because it made the point that nicotine and alcohol were just as dangerous to young people as illegal drugs. Another excellent publication for concerned parents was the booklet,’“Misuse of Drugs: a Parents’ Guide,” produced by the National Mutual Life Association and available free. “However, there is always the danger that the provision of information such as this is more . likely to encourage young people to experiment with drugs,, rather than put them off,” he said.

The “Special Report” failed to define the difference between mental and physical dependence on drugs; it tried to make people believe in the mythical “drug pedlar” as being the person who introduced young people to drugs, whereas they were most likely to find drugs through friends; and it tried to deal with drug abuse among adolescents in just three paragraphs, which was an impossible task, Dr Dobson said.

“It doesn’t say where to seek help, either,” he said. “If parents are worried about their children, if they think they might have a problem with drugs, they need to know where to go for help. But there is no such information in the report.” These were just some of the deficiencies in the “Special Report,” which was, at best, superficial, Dr Dobson said.