A youth counselling service set up three years ago has seen more than 350 young people in need of help -- 95 percent of them due to marijuana use.

Director of the Bermuda Youth Counselling Service Eudora Brown-Zuill said she had seen clients as young as ten-years-old who had either experimented with or regularly used weed.

But she said most of her clients failed to see anything wrong with smoking the drug, and therefore often did not even get through the assessment stage of the programme, or past the first session.

And she said it was indicative of a society that was showing fewer and fewer concerns about the use of marijuana.

The service was set up at the beginning of 1998 to help young people with drug and alcohol abuse, and to help them deal with the "growing pains of adolescence''.

People aged between ten and 24 have visited the centre in Fagan's Alley, off Front Street, and many have been referred by their school or parents.

When the centre first opened, the biggest age group that it serviced were 15 and 16-year-olds.

However, in just three years that has lowered to 13 and 14-year-olds.

And boys seem to have the biggest problems. Only about five percent of the clients are girls.

But Mrs. Brown-Zuill said out of all the people the centre has serviced, many have openly said they were not ready to give up the pastime of smoking pot.

"Most of the clients that have come here have identified marijuana as their drug of choice,'' said the programme director.

"About five people back in 1998 to 1999 identified alcohol as their drug of choice.

"There have been one or two that have been `poly drug users' -- using more than one substance at a time. And one particular person identified heroin as his main drug of choice.

"But in the main its marijuana and a lot of them don't see anything wrong with it. If they do cut back, it is only to lessen the consequences. A lot of them won't stop until they have had a severe consequence.

"They really see nothing wrong with it -- that's a social problem.'' Since the centre, which is currently joint funded by Government and the National Drug Commission, opened, Mrs. Brown-Zuill said the majority of clients had claimed to have been users for only a short time.

And she said she saw her role as encouraging the youngsters to abstain from all drug use, and as being the person who pointed out the dangers, as opposed to labelling or punishing them.

But she said what had to be appreciated was that sometimes the youngsters had other problems to deal with, and were often smoking or using drugs to block out situations they felt unable to deal with.

"We have had ten-year-olds experimenting with alcohol and marijuana. They were not regular users, but were experimenting at a low level,'' she said.

"It may only have happened once or twice, but people understandably get concerned and refer them here.'' And if a young person is refusing to attend the centre, then a different approach may be needed.

However, Mrs. Brown-Zuill said just because the centre had recorded about 350 referrals or consultations since 1998, does not mean there are not more young people in Bermuda using drugs and alcohol.

There may be many more.

She added: "I don't think I walked into any surprises when the centre opened, other than to see that children so young were experimenting,'' she added.

"I know some people say marijuana is harmless, but I would say that anything that is mind-altering must have some kind of negative impact, and can become addictive.

"I have seen some of the devastating affects marijuana has had on some families.

"I have seen people being deprived because someone in their family would rather buy marijuana than food and clothes; and some people forget their responsibilities because they are so entrenched in the drug.

"We are here to help prevent that, and to help our young people to find a better path.'' Bermuda Youth Counselling Services is open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. There is no waiting list to see either Mrs. Brown-Zuill or her fellow qualified counsellors Noel Hayward or Lakila Wade.

For more information, call 296-7548, or 296-7569.

Euduro Brown-Zuill