Teen heroin addicts are Bermuda's latest drug phenomenon, say narcotics experts.

Both National Drugs Commission Chief Executive Officer Derrick Binns and Focus counsellor Sandy Butterfield said they were appalled by the new trend.

Mrs. Butterfield said children as young as ten were starting on heroin while some teens were being lured into prostitution to fund their habit.

She said hard-hitting anti-drugs messages should now be targeted at the primary schools to counter the deadly habit.

She said: "It's no use shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.'' Mrs. Butterfield said: "We had a 17 year old come to us who had been on heroin for six or seven years.

"It starts in school and then it's hard to break out of.

"When I give talks in classrooms I can pick out those in trouble, they are yawning and sniffing, they have watering eyes and they are nodding off.

"Clients tell me there are kids of 12 and 13 on it.

"My clients are saying heroin users are getting younger.

"A lot of kids are smoking when they are nine, ten, 11 and 12 -- that is peer pressure and the same way they did it with cigarettes because that was fashionable, they are now doing with heroin because that is now fashionable.

"But they really don't know the damage they are doing to their brain cells and body, that they are going to be addicted for a long, long time.

"They always think they can do it without getting hooked, that they are smart.'' She said cheap heroin was enticing youngsters to try it. "I think we should go into the primary schools, that's when the prevention has to be done,'' Mrs.

Butterfield said.

She said youngsters needed to be told of the consequences of starting on heroin. She explained: "You'll lose your family, your job, your home. You sleep in derelict places in the cold and end up doing things you never thought you would do, you will do anything to get the drug.

"Both men and women sell their bodies and so do some of the teenage users.

Bermuda is so small. Drug dens can be just a few yards from your home, although people should remember that they aren't necessarily the buildings without windows, they can be at houses with swimming pools.'' She said parents must learn to spot the worrying symptoms.

She explained: "Check it out if your child is always tired, they might claim they have the 'flu.

"Start asking questions if they are getting worse marks at school and they have a change in attitude -- if they are lethargic and they are nodding off.'' She said many parents were too busy to spot the danger signals.

She said: "A lot of parents are working two jobs so they have no idea what's going on.

"Parents need to spend quality and quantity time with their kids, not just buy them everything they want and then think they're doing a good job.'' Although the fashion for injecting heroin had declined, Mrs. Butterfield said there was still deadly dangers from smoking and snorting it.

Concern over teen addicts She said: "There are deaths from overdoses.'' She said it might be time to shock youngsters by showing them a gruesome film about the reality of heroin use.

She explained: "We have a video which shows the body sores and lesions people suffer. They get body aches far worse than flu.'' And she explained that increased sexual potency experienced by some male users was short-lived.

She said: "They end up impotent or they are so absorbed in heroin they lose interest in sex.'' Dr. Binns said: "It concerns me that heroin users are getting younger.

Adolescent boys and girls are using it.

"They are snorting it and smoking it. I am concerned that with increased use more people will start injecting it. The physical impact on the body is tremendous.'' Parents who are worried that their children are doing drugs can call Focus's 24-hour hotline on 296-2196.

Derrick Binns