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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Drug use among children rises to 11% Patrick Wintour Guardian Friday 24 Nov 2000 Drug misuse among school children is on the increase, with the number admitting using drugs up from 10% to 11%, according to a government survey published yesterday. Nearly two thirds of 15-year-olds said they had been offered drugs in the past year. The findings, which run counter to recent claims that progress is being made in the fight against drugs, showed that more than one in 10 children aged 11-15 used drugs over the past 12 months, and suggested that government efforts to stem the flow of drugs is failing. At the same time, the number of regular cigarette smokers was found to be on a relatively sharp decline, especially among boys, a trend that started in the mid-1980s. Most school drug users said they had been using cannabis. Surprisingly, the greatest use had been among children in relatively affluent neighbourhoods. Users tended to be children with low expectations of good exam results and generally low esteem. The survey also found that children were eight times more likely to take drugs if their brothers or sisters did so. "The general picture is a fairly consistent one of small increases amongst both boys and girls, particularly amongst those aged 14 and 15," said the authors. The survey, which was conducted among more than 9,000 secondary school children aged 11-15 in some 340 schools in England, is the largest of its kind and is seen as more revealing than simple crime figures showing the number of children cautioned for possessing or selling cannabis. The government's anti-drugs co-ordinator, Keith Hellawell, yesterday chose to ignore the increase, instead praising the common sense of the majority of teenagers who had not taken drugs. The survey showed that boys were more likely to take drugs than girls, by 13% to 12%. But there was a growing likelihood of drug taking as children grew older. As many as 30% of 15-year-olds had taken drugs in the previous year, but only 1% of 11-year-olds. Asian British youngsters were proportionately more unlikely to take drugs, with only 7% admitting having taken drugs in the previous year, against 12% of pupils described as white. A sense of failure at school seemed to be likely to lead children to drugs, with 30% of those that said they were not doing well at school taking drugs. Drug misuse was heavily associated with other forms of anti-social behaviour, with drug users four times more likely to steal, and truants and those excluded from school five times more likely to take drugs. Three-quarters of drug users said they had not told their parents. Yet even among those who did tell their parents, only half thought their parents disapproved. Brothers or sisters or close friends taking drugs was a key determinant. Ministers can take some solace from the finding that there is no sign that drug education programmes in schools actually increase the likelihood of children taking drugs. However, other messages from the government do not seem to be getting through. Most pupils said they enjoyed the experience, 70% saying they had felt "high, fantastic, happy or giggly". One child in every 100 had tried drugs before their 11th birthday. By the age of 16, 39% of children have tried drugs, according to the survey - which also predicted that that figure would rise; 55% have smoked cigarettes; and 73% have had an alcoholic drink. Mr Hellawell said: "Children nowadays have to be told of the full dangers of drugs and have the details spelled out so that they clearly understand the dangers. They are young adults; advising 'just say no', which has never been our policy, does not recognise the need for the kind of structured anti-drugs education programmes the government has in place." He said 93% of secondary and 75% of primary schools now had a drugs education policy - up from 86% of secondary and 61% of primary schools in 1997.
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