4 year olds using drugs

Children as young as 4 are smoking pot while mothers use drugs to calm their grizzling babies, an investigation into the Western Bay's drug culture reveals.
This week, the Bay of Plenty Times covered police raids in Te Puke where several people suspected of dealing drugs to schoolchildren were arrested.
Police would not say what ages the children were but following the article a Te Puke clinician has spoken out on what she calls the town's "big problem" with drug use.
Dual diagnosis clinician Isobel Whelan, of Bay of Plenty District Health Board-funded Poupoua Charitable Trust, said the drug culture in some Te Puke families spanned generations - including toddlers.
"Let's face it, there are 4-year-olds that are users out there. I would suspect there are younger children as well," she said.
Ms Whelan was also aware of mothers "medicating" teething babies with cannabis to stop them grizzling.
Ms Whelan has been involved in helping people with drugs and alcohol for 28 years.
"Te Puke, unfortunately, has got a problem here and I don't think we are handling it the way we should," she said.
Ms Whelan described the community and its social services as "fractured".
"I don't think the network of agencies in the community is solid enough to work together with police, social services. It's not cohesive. The agencies are missing the ball."
Nga Kakano Foundation drug and alcohol counsellor Rapine Paura, also based in Te Puke and funded by the DHB, said he had seen a major rise in the number of young people, including 12 and 13-year-olds, involved in drugs over the past year alone.
There had also been a rise in youth needing help.
"I have been here three years and it has increased significantly in that time," Mr Paura said.
"We are coping at the moment but if it increases any more it may warrant more staff."
But the issue was one that occurred in different social sectors everywhere, Mr Paura said.
Ngaiterangi iwi general manager Paul Stanley said he had heard of a couple of instances - one in Welcome Bay and one in Papamoa - of preschoolers being given cannabis.
"It's not prevalent but you get cases come up where wasted adults blow it into kids' faces as a joke. It's outrageous. You have to be a pretty sick puppy to do that to a kid."
While it was not epidemic, he suspected the cases that came to his attention were "the tip of the iceberg".
"I think there is a little bit more that goes on."
Mr Stanley said an annual survey by Ngaiterangi iwi of at-risk teenagers showed an increase in cannabis use.
"Two years ago there was huge usage of alcohol versus marijuana. Now it's swung back the other way."
A project manager for a community agency in Tauranga, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also had heard "on rare occasions" of young children being given cannabis.
"It's here in Tauranga. I am aware of it and I have talked to other professionals who have seen it."
In the three years he had been with the agency he had heard of three instances.
In one case a Housing New Zealand employee had witnessed a mother blowing cannabis smoke into her toddler's face, he said.
"In our parents' generation, they gave kids gripe water, which was alcohol-based, and we wouldn't do that now.
"I think that you have to see it within the context of what's 'normal' in people's lives. For a lot of people marijuana is a normal part of their lives."
The best way to deal with those instances was to work with the people involved and address the issues in their lives, rather than have a "hysterical reaction" against it, he said.
Child Youth and Family Tauranga manager James Gatenby said there had not been an increase in reports regarding drug use by children and young people in Te Puke but that it was of "real concern" in all cases where children were using drugs.
"I would urge anyone who knows kids taking or being given drugs to contact us and we'll work with that child or young person and their family to help sort things out," he said.
Marianne Grant, Plunket acting clinical adviser for the Midland region, said while the issue had not been brought to her attention, it was always a concern if adults were using illicit or recreational drugs around children.
"It affects their ability to care for their children safely and the children themselves," she said.
Peter Monteith, of the Tauranga Regional Free Kindergarten Association, said the issue had not been raised with the association either.
"If it is happening, no one's said anything to me. I would have thought it would have been something we would have picked up on if it was prevalent," he said.