DRUG PUSHERS TARGET HOTELS

ECSTASY dealers are using rooms at Gold Coast hotels favoured by
schoolies as drug dens, young revellers claim.

As the Herald Sun saw more than 100 drug-affected youths in the
Surfers Paradise schoolies precinct early yesterday, a group of
teenagers said schoolies did not need to leave the hotels to get the
drug.

Schoolies are buying tablets for as little as $25 each from dealers
operating out of hotels and from beach-trawling drug pushers.

Gold Coast police said ecstasy had never been more
popular.

Thousands of Victorian schoolies are expected to pour into the Gold
Coast from today.

Some of the 30,000 school leavers say it is easier to take a pill
than risk a $225 police fine for drinking in public.

A group of schoolies who did not wish to be named said dealers were
operating out of the hotel room above their own.

"Everybody knows they are there," said the girl, 17, from
Brisbane.

Another school leaver said teenagers were selling drugs from the flat
next door to hers.

Josh, 18, of Brisbane, said his group had bought ecstasy on the
beach.

"We've been approached by people a couple of times. They offer us
pills and we just take them," Josh said.

Police have been cracking down on drug dealers since schoolies began
last week, but said there had been no arrests in hotels. "It is much
easier to search and arrest people in possession of drugs on the
street," a police spokeswoman said.

"There are certain restrictions on police going into hotels and we
would need a search warrant . . . but certainly if we had enough
information we would have no hesitation."

And they are applauding schoolies who are increasingly passing on
information about dealers.

"A couple of drug arrests have resulted from schoolies ringing us,
and that's very encouraging," the spokeswoman said.

Thousands of schoolies were dancing to DJs playing on the main beach
about 1am yesterday when police swooped on a group of older Sydney
men in the throng. The 25 men, who appeared to be in their 20s, were
ordered off the beach for 24 hours after a young woman told police
they were being verbally harassed and intimidated by the "toolies".

"The males were surrounding schoolies on the beach and were
intimidating them," Gold Coast police Superintendent Brett Pointing
said.

He said the swoop by more than 20 officers served as a warning to
anyone considering similar behaviour.

Of the 33 arrests made by police on Thursday night, only 14 were
schoolies.

SCHOOLIES back in Victoria are labelling this year's celebrations at
Lorne "Blokesworld" as men far outnumber women at the Victorian
coastal town.

Beach cricket and beer is the order of the day, but the lack of
female company has left them a little frustrated.

"There's not enough girls," said Matt Sotirakis, 18, of
Cheltenham.

"You should have seen the ratio down at the beach last night. There
was about five guys to one chick."