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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: British children top drug league
Adam Nathan The Sunday Times
Sunday 18 Feb 2001 BRITISH teenagers head a league table of drug use in 30 European countries. More than one in three has used illicit substances, according to a survey to be made public this week. Researchers found that 36% of boys and girls in Britain aged 15 and 16 took drugs at some time, mainly cannabis, but also LSD and ecstasy. The figures, based on a survey of 2,000 children at 230 British schools, are part of a 400-page report into drug use, drinking and smoking. "It may be something to do with the rave scene that developed sooner in the UK than abroad and is a setting for drug use, particularly amphetamines and ecstasy," said Dr Robert Kendell, former chief medical officer for Scotland. The results of the survey, covering 50, 000 teenagers overall in countries from Greenland to Russia, will be discussed at an inter-government meeting in Sweden. The second worst country for drug use is the Czech Republic. The study comes after a government survey last November that showed boys are more likely to take drugs than girls. The new findings have been seen by Keith Hellawell, the government's drugs czar. They will further fuel the debate over whether cannabis should be legalised. "Britain has much tougher legislation against possession of drugs than other European countries, but it has the worst record for use," said Kendell, who has also chaired a working group of the royal colleges of physicians and psychiatrists on drug use. "It is obvious that legislation is not working." Dr Martin Plant, director of the Alcohol & Health Research Centre in Edinburgh, which carried out the British research, said: "One of the problems we have is that drug taking has now become so commonplace that it is widely regarded as socially acceptable."
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