The community taking responsibility for itself

The real answers lie in the community

Whanau Hauora Day, Community Action on Youth Alcohol and Drugs (CAYAD) event, Ilminster Intermediate School, Gisborne

Kia ora koutou katoa

I am here today to show my support for the work of Turanga Health, the Whanau Hauora Day and the Turanga Health CAYAD programme.

I'll tell you what this day is about. It's about standing up for your community and standing up for ourselves. It's about accepting we have a problem in our community with drugs and alcohol. And it's about accepting it's up to us to take responsibility and do something about it.

How much of a problem do we have? According to the Ministry of Health, the social costs of alcohol misuse alone total between $1.5 billion and $2.4 billion a year.

But economic measures don't really describe the full extent of the damage to individuals, to families and to the strength of communities. Our communities are vulnerable to the corrosive effects of drug misuse and the harm it causes. Drugs affect whole communities.

The parents of users, users themselves, those whom some users offend against are all affected ... as are schools, local business and just about everyone involved in local community life.

We have a problem with drinking too much and with binge drinking. We have a problem with drugs. When the experts looked at this region they said one in four men here are drinking in a way that puts them at high risk of hurting themselves and others, if they keep doing it.

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So what are we going to do about that? Over half our young people aged eighteen to twenty four are getting stuck in and binge drinking almost every time they drink alcohol.

So what are we going to do about that? Two out of five of our twelve to seventeen year olds are binging every time they have a drink. So they're not starting out with good habits − they're starting out in ways that are hurting themselves, hurting others and hurting their community.

So what can we do about that? We can stand up and take responsibility for fixing it. We can say it is unacceptable for nearly one in four of our twelve to seventeen year olds to be drinking large amounts of alcohol once a week.

The damage is being felt in physical injuries, in accidents, in fights and road smashes. It's being felt in unwanted sex, unplanned pregnancy and by kids whose parents are drinking too much. It's being felt in problems with the Police, problems with jobs, problems in education, problems in families and much, much more.

Alcohol is our number one drug problem. But we have a problem with marijuana too. A lot of people think it's harmless. It isn't.

Marijuana is especially damaging to the brains of young people. It makes mental illness worse. I want to see all our young people fulfil their potential and become all they can be − and I want to ask how you can do that if your brain is smashed on cannabis?

I spend a lot of energy working with our health system to reduce suicide and depression. You've seen the ads on television with John Kirwan − the former All Black − urging people to get help? It's a great campaign. But even better than getting help is reducing the problem in the first place. One of the biggest differences we can make is reducing the use of marijuana.

A few years ago the government decided to start playing our part in fixing the problems we have with alcohol and drugs. We set up Community Action on Youth Alcohol and Drugs programmes, or CAYADs, in communities all around New Zealand − community action means communities taking action themselves.

This day has been organised by your local CAYAD. Community Action on Youth and Drugs programmes are the best way I know of for drug issues to be identified and dealt with at the local level.

The community action group doesn't provide services, but it helps the parts of the community that are involved in youth alcohol and drug issues to work together to change behaviour.

When we looked at how well they were operating, we found that when communities were working together through a CAYAD, the number of drug-related school suspensions went down. We found that youth crime went down. We found that attitudes changed and excessive alcohol and drug use went down. We found services for young people and their families were better co-ordinated.

So CAYADs make a very important contribution to helping positive social change in our communities. CAYADs focus on strengthening communities.
We need to think beyond simply reducing drug-related crime and supply. We also have to think about community development.

Drugs will not flourish in active communities where everyone has a stake. A drug culture is not compatible with a culture of optimism and mutual respect. So we have to choose which culture we want − and for me, the choice is easy.

Drug problems are most serious where social exclusion is acute. Where young people feel they don't have a future − that's where widespread drug problems take root. Where sections of the community feel left out or lack the will or the resources to control or manage drug problems − that's where drug problems multiply and spread.

I've been to communities where elders have told me their young people get hold of drugs and spend all day wasted. The distinguishing characteristic of those communities was that unemployment was high and opportunities limited. And then when I went to see businesses about investing in young people and taking them on to give them training and a future, they were usually enthusiastic.

But drugs were often getting in the way. If you had a forestry company, for example, you wouldn't want trainee staff going up trees with chainsaws while they were high on drugs.

We needed to get a real momentum for change going, where we supported the development of strong communities. And those communities offered hope and support, and in turn the drugs that undermined the strength of communities could be confronted. The CAYADs are the spearhead of this strategy.

The government is doing our bit. The recent Budget set aside nearly six million dollars to raise awareness about the risks of taking drugs. We set up systems so that policies for reducing harm from drugs and alcohol can be based on the best evidence possible.

I think parliament missed an opportunity when it decided not to put the age for buying alcohol back up to twenty. There is a review under way on the supply of alcohol to under-18s and I think we need to get tougher on that. But in the end, the government can only do so much.

The real answers lie in the community. The real answers are here on days like this. This day is a symbol of hope. This day is about a stronger community.

I am convinced that by harnessing the strength of the community through programmes such as CAYAD, real changes can be made. We can make changes that will positively help our young people and help them unleash their potential.

There is a prize giving coming up, so I congratulate prize winners on your success. I want to congratulate you especially on the kapa haka I've been privileged to see today. This day is full of love and a positive way ahead for our community and I welcome the chance to be here for it.

No reira, tënä koutou, tënä koutou, tënä koutou katoa.

ENDS

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