Party safety fear, students in drugs, sex fear
Victorian students are risking their health and safety at wild school formal after-parties, principals have warned.
Drugs, alcohol, fights, gatecrashers and unsafe sex worry school leaders and health experts.
The warning comes as thousands of students attending formals in New South Wales are being drugged and alcohol tested.
The company behind the security crackdown, Prom Night Events, is planning to offer the same service in Victoria.
Senior partner Elliot Kleiner said Melbourne teenagers would try to sneak in drugs and alcohol to events, just like their Sydney peers.
"If it's going on here, and believe me it is, it's got to be happening there, " he said.
Mr Kleiner, who hopes to open a franchise in Melbourne next year, said everyone attending formals run by his company was breathtested and drug searches also conducted if needed.
He said his security team also did sweeps of areas in and around venues to look for banned items such as alcohol, flick-knives and flares.
"The little darlings are really quite innovative about what they would like to get in to our events," he said.
But a spokesman for Education Minister Lynne Kosky said drug testing would not be allowed at Victorian school formals.
"It's not department policy and won't be introduced," he said.
"If a student is obviously affected by alcohol or drugs, the school will call in the parents and, if needed, the police."
Australian Secondary Principals Association president Andrew Blair said formals were held in a controlled environment and drug and alcohol testing were not necessary.
"We don't have any evidence to suggest we need this at this point," he said.
"The main game to be concerned about is the after-parties."
"We know there's a huge amount of pretty excessive behaviour at after-parties and the health and safety of kids is being put at risk," he said.
Mr Blair said many schools prefer to hold formals at teh start rather than the end of the year, so more students were under age and there was less of an end-of-year party attitude.
"It's also so kids are concerned about getting themselves ready for exams without worrying about what sort of frock to buy," Mr Blair said.
The Australian CEO of health service Marie Stopes International, Suzanne Dvorak, urged sexually active teenagers to use condoms at after-parties to avoid disease and unwanted pregnancy.
"Substance use at formal after-parties can also blur the line between consensual and non-consensual sex, which often leads to teenagers having sex not because they want to but because they feel pressured into it," she said.
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