Central Otago police are advising parents to seek advice if they suspect their teenager is consuming cannabis, following the charging of a woman for supplying cannabis to young people.
Central Otago youth aid officer Constable Tamah Alley said there had been an increase in reports to police ''in recent months'' from concerned parents and others in the community about the supply of cannabis to young people.
''In our work [in] our community we have received anecdotal reports that cannabis was more available at present, based on that we have made further inquiries, which led to this charge.''
The 26-year-old woman will appear in the Alexandra District Court later this month.
Const Alley said police were committed to protecting young people and took seriously activities that might cause harm to community members.
She said if parents or guardians had concerns their children were involved in or consuming illicit drugs, advice was available at www.police.govt.nz, as well as from community health provider Adventure Development, which helped young people and whanau dealing with alcohol and drug issues and/or mental health difficulties.
Adventure Development Central Otago counsellor Malcolm Creagh said there were also various websites which could help parents become more informed about drug issues and advise ''how to challenge that behaviour'' if they suspected their teenager was using cannabis.
''If parents are suspecting their teenager is using cannabis, they could use the websites to become more informed, and monitor their teenager's behaviour more closely. Parents can be reluctant to ask the hard questions, preferring to give their child the benefit of the doubt. Even if the drug use is at an experimental stage, it is better for parents to begin the conversation.''
