Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:


After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.

Young using cannabis : report

Fenton Bresler

Press Association

Monday 22 Nov 1999


Up to 40% of teenage schoolchildren in England and Wales have tried
cannabis, the highest rate in the EU, according to a report.

The EU's drugs monitoring agency survey found that 40% of 15 and
16-year-olds have tried the drug at least once.

More schoolchildren in England and Wales have also tried solvent abuse
such as glue sniffing than their EU counterparts, although at 20% the
rate is half that for cannabis.

The report also found that 2% of teenagers in England and Wales have
experimented with heroin, also the worst record in Europe.

But the Lisbon based agency's report on drug prevalence, usage
patterns and responses by the authorities said that cannabis use among
the young in England and Wales "has stabilised or even decreased".

It is still on the rise in parts of Europe where drug abuse used to be
rare.

Schoolchildren in England and Wales appear to be imitating their
elders.

Across the wider population more people were found to have used
cannabis in England and Wales in the last 12 months than in any other
country. About 9% of the adult population took it, compared with 1% in
Sweden.

The agency's report estimates that 40 million of the EU's 375 million
total population have tried cannabis. Although the number of addicts
and other problem drug users has also increased slightly to an
estimated 1.5 million EU-wide, the report attributed the rise to new
or improved estimates from EU members.

 

 

 

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!