Approximately 8-10 teenagers have made the toddler playground their hangout spot. On a nightly basis, I have to talk to them about their inappropriate behaviors, language, and actions. These include:
• swearing in front of the toddlers,
• leaving piles of garbage on the playground
• vandalism – jumping on the garbage bins until they break, graffiti on playground equipment etc.
• occupying the equipment so that the toddlers have no where to play

I have been very tolerant of most of these behaviors, but last night (Thursday, Nov 15) hit a new low. I witnessed the kids collecting money (at the playground) to purchase pot (marijuana) from a drug dealer (and yes, the deal went down). As a parent and Lamma Island resident, I ask you to please monitor your child’s activities as (from what I have witnessed) they have been getting progressively worse in the past few months. Please do not assume that Lamma is protected from harsher (more dangerous) drugs, as there have been police raids and drug busts in the past.

Many parents (with toddlers) are avoiding the playground in the evening because of these issues, so we would really appreciate your support and involvement in helping end these problems.

*PS: Not all of the kids at the playground are involved in these activities; in fact, some are very polite and pleasant....but there are definitely a few KEY troublemakers that are leading the others astray.
*PPS: Please pass this message on to any parents who have pre-teens/ teenagers on Lamma.

Hear, hear! We dont want to descent into "hoody" culture, do we!? It would be the low slung jeans showing off the various stages of shaggy underwear next..... an awful sight but at least it will slow them down when having to run away from the police....

Dont wish to be flippant, I agree with you that teenagers congregating in large gaggles are not a nice sight and can intimidate if left to go unchecked. Why not ask the police to move them on?

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T. Clipper

Do you know any of the parents of the kids? Maybe you could speak directly to them (the parents). When my kids were growing up on Lamma they knew they would get caught doing anything because if people saw they were up to no good, they told me. I appreciated it as well. This is not to say they will stop the bad behaviour but it may make them more aware of their surroundings and the people around them?

I've been thinking how to respond to this disturbing news since I read it early this morning. It's quite shocking.

The problem will be if the police get involved there could be alarming legal ramifications (although my experience as a parent is that they historically have been very reasonable in stepping in to warn both the parents and the young kids before an incident gets that far out of hand. I'm a bit out of the loop these days and I'm not sure about how good the relations with the police are nowadays).

As parents, obviously there is a great deal of fear about drugs. If the kids get wind of the fact they have been noticed they are likely to move elsewhere and the drug stuff could get worse.

The best advice is, as Lamma Dad says, to alert as many parents as we know with children in this age group and to try to find out who is peddling the stuff. A threat of exposure could possibly get them to go to ground and leave the youngsters alone. Or report them to the police, if indeed, they do not already have an eye on the situation.

Lamma Dad, I know this does not address the issue of the toddlers being affected. It sounds as if the teens are flexing their muscles and haven't yet grown enough socially to realise what is acceptable and what is not. Hopefully your note will alert enough people so some action is taken by the parents.

Sorry this is a bit of a ramble. The situation has me very concerned.

It is not my nature to go running to police on most of these issues, as I realize that kids will be kids (regardless of nationality and locality) so I would rather seek the assistance of the parents involved (or at the very least raise awareness). Besides, isn’t there a new police station being built that overlooks the playground?

just let me know who the drug dealer is in aPM I will sort it out

I agree lamma dad. I did not mean approaching the Police about the children, whatever damage they are doing in the playground. That is something parents should be able to police themselves.

But the idiot who is selling the stuff needs a kick up the backside before long term damage is done. And yes, the Police station should be opened this year.

"I witnessed the kids collecting money (at the playground) to purchase pot (marijuana) from a drug dealer (and yes, the deal went down)."

Sorry, why didnt you stop it if you witnessed the 'deal going down'? Are you saying that you witnessed an open exchange of money for pot in the playground and just let it go on?

Please clarify. Thanks.

Yeah, vigilante drug busts are the way to go. No risk to anyone.

no, not vigilante, but I would have certainly said something the dealer/youngsters.

Really. It was good that Lamma dad had a word with these kids when they were crashing things around. And good he bothered to make this post. Many would look the other way. Let's not bash him now for not breaking up a drug deal.

Search Lamma on Instagram and u will find a pic of 1 kid in the playground with the comments and # tags suggesting that he is stoned (pic was uploaded only a few days ago)

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Sabe 1

Insomniac,
I’m going to keep this brief due to the nature of the topic, if you want more details message me privately. Here’s briefly summary of what happened: After listening to the kids talk about purchasing weed for about 10 minutes, a few of them went behind the toilet building to count money. I watched them give the money to another teenager who also hangs around the playground regularly and who seems to act as the middleman for these types of deals (I will refer to him as “Punk”). After receiving the money, Punk told the kids to be quiet as he phoned the dealer. At this moment, I asked another parent to watch my child, as I wanted a word with the kids. The group was sitting on/around the benches in front of the toddler play area and, in a nutshell, I told them that I didn’t want to see any of this shit going on in the toddler playground ever again. I pointed directly at Punk and told him that he needs to find somewhere else to hangout or there is going to be problems.

It’s hard to believe that the kids were shocked that a parent (standing less than 10 feet away) could figure out what they were up to. They sat in almost silence for approximately 5 minutes after I reamed them out (although, I could hear a few whispers). I decided to hang around for a while to see how everything was going to unfold (and who was going to show up…since Punk had already put in the call). After approximately 10 minutes had passed, I saw from the corner of my eye, Punk make a dash (through the bush by the exercise equipment) towards the helicopter pad. I suspect that he didn’t want to use the stairs or main gate (in the bleacher area) because he did not want me to notice him. I started to walk towards the helicopter pad with my child before realizing that it would probably was not the best decision since that roadway is rather dark and I did not know who was down there. A few minutes later, Punk once again hopped the fence – ran through the bush/ weeds near the exercise area and returned to the playground. He walked by the kids (who were still sitting on the benches)… mumbled something to them and kept walking. All of the kids (with the exception of two) jumped to their feet and followed him down the side street. I did not see a direct exchange of money and drugs though I am extremely confident that exchange happened.

A few minutes later…three grubby-looking men holding cases (it could have been fishing gear) walked around the corner in addition to another man on a bike. None of which I could identify again…they may or may not be involved.

In the past week most of the teenagers have been hanging out at the football pitch instead of around the kids playground. Thank you (parents) for talking to your kids!

i used to live behind the fotball pitch but hd to move due to the noie on the evenings nd my erly schedule, on many occasions i walked my dog in the erly morning to find needle in the kid ply ground so prent think it jut. Hrmless puff of some pot ? Think again needles , ice , the list is endless and really im nompolice man but is it really that htd to spot the delers i can see them daily doing there trade once even behind the village police station ............

What are you guys complaining about? Without drugs, how are our kids supposed to uphold the Lamma way of life, maintain the aboriginal culture? How will the younger generation sustain the traditional values? SKOL, DRUGS, LAMMA!!

Anton, Shut Up! It's not funny.

As a parent I appreciate that this sort thing can be a bit alarming. I find you have to be a bit pragmatic and realise that most toddlers won't notice if people are smoking weed or whatever. Certainly you don't want them picking up used needles and thats where I would really draw the line, that and dog pooh.

Your not one of these drug barons are you.

I think nobody should smoke near a playground anyway. Pot or not, it's all bad for the toddlers, even in small doses. Not even talking of needles.

And yes, there are very dangerous drugs on Lamma. If you have teenage kids, I strongly recommend you update yourself on the latest developments in the drug industry and how to spot abuse early. Nowadays there's stuff one shouldn't even try.

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PARENTAL ADVISORY:
I say ***** a lot