Parents need to talk about drugs at Gold Coast and Straddie schoolies, warns addiction expert

It comes as police announce the seizure of $100,000 in drugs which were destined for the Gold Coast ahead of schoolies, which starts Saturday.

Dominic Shelley, who founded drugs and alcohol program RAAD, said school leavers experimenting with drugs often did not know what chemicals they contained, how dangerous they were or what health issues they could cause.

This could lead to young people getting hurt, with some too scared to ring emergency services or their families for help.

“The thing I am concerned about is kids not talking to teachers or parents about drug use,” he said.

“There is a lot of young people going to isolated places and if something is going wrong, who is going to help?”

Mr Shelley said synthetic drugs bought online from overseas for home delivery had worsened the problem.

Kids were able to order drugs from their bedroom without having to visit a dealer, with parents none the wiser.

Authorities also had trouble knowing what toxins were in synthetic drugs, which were sent via post in small packs.

The chemical components of synthetic drugs were changed too frequently for authorities to keep up with, posing problems for users when seeking medical assistance.

Police could usually keep tabs on street dealers, flagging any problems to hospitals about bad batches in street supplies.

But synthetic drugs, cooked up overseas, were harder to monitor.

Mr Shelley said medicos had difficulties treating an overdose victim when drug components were not known.

“We don’t know their origins and you don’t know what is in it,” he said.

He encouraged parents to talk with their children about drugs, saying caregivers should not condone drug use but at least be available to help if something went wrong.

Teaching teenagers what information was helpful to paramedics could also help save a life.

“Even the basics, what has that person taken and in what amount,” he said.

Police have arrested 31 people over the past five months on 119 charges related to the trafficking of methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, LSD, cannabis and performance and image enhancing drugs.

Police Minister Mark Ryan said he was concerned drug networks wanted to supply life-endangering drugs to users.

“We are now just days away from a significant amount of young people embarking on end of year school celebrations across Queensland,” Mr Ryan said.

“It is very concerning these networks were planning to target the Gold Coast which will be overflowing with vulnerable youth from this weekend.”

For more information about safety at Schoolies, visit here.