|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Epidemic of hard drugs in schools
Jason Burke The Observer
Sunday 29 Apr 2001 Hundreds of thousands of British schoolchildren, some as young as 11, have experimented with hard drugs, including heroin and cocaine, and many more use cannabis, amphetamines or glue on a weekly basis, according to a major new survey. More than one in 100 boys aged 12 said they had tried heroin. A similar number of 11-year-olds said they had tried cocaine. Around twice as many said they had used cannabis, glue or had sniffed propellents and inhalants known as 'gas'. The findings, based on questionnaires filled in by 20,000 children in 67 secondary schools last year, contradict recent government claims that juvenile drug use is falling. Last week experts called for a complete overhaul of Britain's drugs education programmes. The biggest such exercise ever undertaken, the survey is the first to look in detail at the habitual use of drugs by schoolchildren. It aimed to show whether they used drugs regularly rather than on an experimental basis. A user was defined as someone taking drugs on a weekly basis for at least three months. 'The results were very striking,' said Jeremy Gluck, of Adolescent Assessment Services, the Swansea-based consultancy that carried out the survey on behalf of local education authorities. 'Drug use is much more extensive than we thought. The sheer numbers involved are very worrying. Some totals were so high that we genuinely didn't want to believe them.' The survey found that one in nine 16-year-old boys who admitted using drugs said they did so every day. More than a third used drugs - mainly cannabis, but also harder drugs - at least once a week. The figures for girls were only slightly lower and nearly 8 per cent of all 16-year-olds said they had been using drugs, including ecstasy and LSD, on a weekly basis for at least three months. The survey also found that patterns of drug use shifted according to age. A fifth of 16-year-old boys said they preferred cannabis, whereas only one in 50 said they habitually used glue or gas. It also looked at drinking and smoking. It found that 5 per cent of 11-year-olds and 40 per cent of 16-year-olds drank alcohol on a weekly basis. A fifth of 16-year-old boys said they were 'drunk' - defined as 'feeling sick and falling about' - at least once a fortnight. The figures confirm a suspected increase in alcohol consumption among youngsters, especially in 'binge' drinking. According to the research, around one in 20 11-year-olds smoke daily. Nearly a third of 15-year-old girls do so, an increase of more than 40 per cent compared with 1998 official figures. Young smokers' habits are also surprisingly heavy. Around half of all 11- to 16-year-old smokers consume between six and 15 cigarettes daily. According to Gluck, one of the most significant findings is the importance of smoking and drinking to initiating later drug use. Children most commonly start to use drugs, cigarettes and alcohol between 13 and 14. There are concerns over the ability of schools to cope with the problem. A recent Ofsted survey found that under 50 per cent of primary schools had a policy on drug-related incidents. Many believe the traditional approach involving lectures by police officers, former addicts and specialists is not effective. 'There is too little, too late,' said Michelle Roe, a director of Life Education Centres. 'There is no point in lecturing 12 year olds, whose attitudes are formed. You have to speak to five year olds.'
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!