Wealth Blog | Discovery Bay teens - bored to drink and drugs

What has happened to Discovery Bay, that genteel haven of child-friendly tranquility? I open the November edition of  community magazine Around DB to find parents debating how much rope to give their teenagers, who are resorting to drink and drugs out of sheer boredom. I am not making this up. Granted, it’s buried in a thoughtful piece about how permissive should parents be, but it’s there in black and white. DB seems to have become a den of under-age drinking, drugs and who knows what else.

The writer, Hannah Ball, delves into the antics of DB teens on a Friday night. Hannah “put some feelers out” and discovers that “many teens – aged 13 and up – hang out in DB Plaza and drink alcohol on “Plaza Friday,” whatever that is. She also finds that “there’s a certain amount of drug-taking on the DB beaches (and in The Dome above DB Plaza), and that love is made (as it always was) at home when parents are out.” 

Nothing else to do

She finds that the general lament about living in DB is that there is very little to do for fun, there’s no skate park or sizeable sports field, - no place to hang out. The nearest cinema is in Tung Chung, the nearest skating rink in Tsim Sha Tsui.
 

No fun alternatives

Even James Buckner, pastor of DB International Community Church, admits: “It’s certainly true that the reason so many teens gather in DB Plaza on a Friday night to drink is because DB has no fun alternatives to offer them.” On a recent Friday, he and a friend counted 130 teenagers in the Plaza. It doesn’t sound like the school discos, church run youth groups and sport, music and drama clubs are hitting the teenage spot in DB.
 

Drug problem exists