- Children are allegedly turning up to school gates ‘stoned’ on anxiety drugs
- Sydney-based Waverley Action for Youth Services has to send kids to rehab
- It said children are increasingly taking alprazolam, known by brand name Xanax
Children as young as 12 are turning up to school ‘stoned’ on anxiety drugs such as Xanax (stock image)
Children as young as 12 are turning up to school ‘stoned’ on anxiety drugs which they combine with alcohol for a heroin-like high, according to a youth charity.
Sydney-based Waverley Action for Youth Services has warned of an epidemic of drug-taking in the city’s most affluent suburbs which has forced it to send children to rehab because counselling is not enough.
It said that children are increasingly taking alprazolam – better known by brand name Xanax – for recreational purposes.
‘They take a couple of “xanies” in the mornings and rock up to school stoned… the kids pop it in the car or pop it on the bus,’ Dr Terri Said, general manager of WAYS, told the Daily Telegraph.
She said that at least one child in every school in the east or west of Sydney is abusing Xanax.
‘They’re starting to really combine Xanax with alcohol in large quantities,’ she added. ‘We’ve had to make referrals in terms of rehab.’
In 2014 the Therapeutic Goods Administration increased restrictions on alprazolam by making it a schedule eight drug instead of schedule four, meaning it became harder to get hold of.
As a result, the number of alprazolam-related calls to the Poisons Information Centre dropped by 50 per cent.
But Dr Said said that teenagers are accessing the drug on the ‘dark web’ and selling it at school.
Describing its effects, she said: ‘It’s along the lines of a heroin-type thing, even though heroin is far worse. It’s the zombie effect. You’re very slurry.’
The charity said that children are increasingly taking alprazolam – better known by brand name Xanax – for recreational purposes (stock image)