Good parents can help beat the youth drug culture

National Party Family spokeswoman Judith Collins says pro-active parents are needed to help beat the drug culture that's stealing more and more young Kiwi lives.

"As the family has broken down in our society, good parenting was the first casualty."

She's commenting on new statistics that show the number of anti-depressants being prescribed to those aged between six and 18-years-old has climbed from 14,963 'items dispensed' in 1998, to 24,597 in 2002.

The number of calls to the youth counselling service Youthline has increased five-fold over the same period.

"It's worrying that one of the main reasons for youth depression is reported to be 'youths feeling disconnected from relationships with family and friends'. "The needs of our children are not being met and it's time for parents, both parents, to accept some of the responsibility," Ms Collins says.

"Our children also face rejection and neglect at the hands of a Government that doesn't put any value on the traditional family unit.

"This is a Government that's legalised prostitution, it has been an advocate for female fathers and it took far too long to realise that 'gangs' don't qualify as a family.

"New Zealand needs to reverse that anti-family agenda for the sake of its kids," Ms Collins says.

© Scoop Media