Pubdate: Sun, 27 Nov 2005
Source: Sunday Times (Australia)
Copyright: 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact: http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/letters/letters.html
Website: http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/438
Author: Jane Metlikovec
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Australia
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

DRUG PUSHERS TARGET HOTELS

ECSTASY dealers are using rooms at Gold Coast hotels  favoured by
schoolies as drug dens, young revellers  claim.

As the Herald Sun saw more than 100 drug-affected  youths in the
Surfers Paradise schoolies precinct early  yesterday, a group of
teenagers said schoolies did not  need to leave the hotels to get the
drug.

Schoolies are buying tablets for as little as $25 each  from dealers
operating out of hotels and from  beach-trawling drug pushers.

Gold Coast police said ecstasy had never been more
popular.

Thousands of Victorian schoolies are expected to pour  into the Gold
Coast from today.

Some of the 30,000 school leavers say it is easier to  take a pill
than risk a $225 police fine for drinking  in public.

A group of schoolies who did not wish to be named said  dealers were
operating out of the hotel room above  their own.

"Everybody knows they are there," said the girl, 17,  from
Brisbane.

Another school leaver said teenagers were selling drugs  from the flat
next door to hers.

Josh, 18, of Brisbane, said his group had bought  ecstasy on the
beach.

"We've been approached by people a couple of times.  They offer us
pills and we just take them," Josh said.

Police have been cracking down on drug dealers since  schoolies began
last week, but said there had been no  arrests in hotels. "It is much
easier to search and  arrest people in possession of drugs on the
street," a  police spokeswoman said.

"There are certain restrictions on police going into  hotels and we
would need a search warrant . . . but  certainly if we had enough
information we would have no  hesitation."

And they are applauding schoolies who are increasingly  passing on
information about dealers.

"A couple of drug arrests have resulted from schoolies  ringing us,
and that's very encouraging," the  spokeswoman said.

Thousands of schoolies were dancing to DJs playing on  the main beach
about 1am yesterday when police swooped  on a group of older Sydney
men in the throng. The 25  men, who appeared to be in their 20s, were
ordered off  the beach for 24 hours after a young woman told police
they were being verbally harassed and intimidated by  the "toolies".

"The males were surrounding schoolies on the beach and  were
intimidating them," Gold Coast police  Superintendent Brett Pointing
said.

He said the swoop by more than 20 officers served as a  warning to
anyone considering similar behaviour.

Of the 33 arrests made by police on Thursday night,  only 14 were
schoolies.

SCHOOLIES back in Victoria are labelling this year's  celebrations at
Lorne "Blokesworld" as men far  outnumber women at the Victorian
coastal town.

Beach cricket and beer is the order of the day, but the  lack of
female company has left them a little  frustrated.

"There's not enough girls," said Matt Sotirakis, 18, of
Cheltenham.

"You should have seen the ratio down at the beach last  night. There
was about five guys to one chick." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake