Something is being done about the drugs in this town!

Madam – The sordid side of Newcastle’s drug trade refers, Newcastle Advertiser 6 March 2015.

I am glad to see something is being done about the drugs in this town! For too long our kids are being held ransom by drug dealers and peer pressure to use and sell drugs. It is scary bringing up children in this environment.

Too often we turn a blind eye to what’s happening around us and hope someone else will do something, like reporting it to the police, but we fail to realise that the police can’t do their jobs if the community don’t help them by being the eyes and ears in the community.

Newcastle is a small place and even though it’s getting bigger, there’s still not much for teenagers to do. So they hang around and get up to mischief with their friends and don’t realise how dangerous this is.

The small things like dagga are a gateway drug that will eventually lead to our children becoming exposed and addicted to harder drugs and it just spirals downwards from there. I have seen how families are torn apart, parents whose children steal from them to buy more drugs and it’s very, very sad.

I wish people would realise that even a harmless flirtation with drugs can ruin lives. I see it every day in my community. We as parents need to be clued up so we know what to look for because even the smallest change in behaviour in our children could be an indication of drug use.

To those who think experimenting with your friends is cool – the wheel turns and someday your children will put you through the hell you’re giving your parents.

Mrs Y Pillai