Delegates at the Acpos annual drugs conference this week will be shown a DVD of boys in Polmont young offenders institute, describing the natural transition for them from binge drinking to taking cannabis and other drugs, including heroin and cocaine. For many of them, this was the reason they ended up behind bars.
The progression of young people trying cannabis and then moving on to harder drugs is a well-known argument against legalising cannabis but Graeme Pearson, the head of the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), says it is time to tackle the problem much earlier, from before the stage of underage binge drinking.
"Reducing binge drinking among 11 to 15-year-olds will decrease the numbers who go on to be involved in drugs," he says, after speaking to scores of offenders about their experiences.
To the people, including the advocate Donald Findlay, who have recently called for cannabis to be decriminalised and regulated in the same way as alcohol, he suggests looking at Scotland's worsening public health record on drinking.
National statistics revealed last week that, despite having only 8.5% of the UK population, Scotland has three-quarters of the worst 20 areas for drink-related fatalities. Between 2004 and 2005, there were 3500 psychiatric discharges where the main diagnosis was linked to alcohol. In the same period there were 931 drug-related discharges.
"Why would we want drugs to be managed or licensed in the same way as drink and see the problems more than triple?" he asks. "I see the Scottish habit of abusing alcohol as being inextricably tied into our experience of drug abuse at the user level. Evidence from prisoners reinforces this view. The link to an alcohol strategy will be critical. One without the other will not work."
There is growing concern not only about the increas-ing use and cultivation of cannabis since it was reclassified, but about its strength. According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction THC, the active ingredient in herbal cannabis, has doubled in strength between 1995 and 2002.
Mr Pearson says educating young people about the dangers of substances such as cannabis and using treatment to help people come off drugs, is vital. Sweden takes a hard line on alcohol and drugs misuse. It also has one of the lowest prevalence of cannabis use in Europe.
Its policy of a "drug-free society" has brought the introduction of new laws since the 1980s, calling for the prosecution of all drugs cases, even the very minor. Those caught for possession can be imprisoned for up to six months. Mr Pearson said: "Sweden has taken a very hard line on drugs. But it is still about a package of education, protection and enforcement.
"Scotland surprisingly accepted the challenge of public smoking and proved it could accept the impossible. If we can change behaviour in respect of smoking after 200 years of a love affair, we should surely be capable of facing the challenge of alcohol and drugs."
Source: The Herald, Pubdate: Wed, 28 Feb 2007
Showing posts with label youth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label youth. Show all posts
Cirrhosis in young people doubles over last decade
The number of cases of alcohol related cirrhosis of the liver has more than doubled amongst young people aged 25-34 over the last decade, according to figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats. The new figures from parliamentary answers provide a breakdown by age group of the total number of cases of alcohol related cirrhosis of the liver, which has also soared nearly threefold.
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, Sandra Gidley MP said: “The UK has one of the worst binge drinking problems in Europe. Ministers should have woken up to this issue and taken action years ago. It is especially worrying to think how early these young people must have started drinking to get so ill. These tragic cases are symptomatic of the serious and growing problem of underage drinking. Health professionals have repeatedly warned ministers about the increasing danger of binge drinking amongst our young people, but too little has been done.
"The Government’s obsession with hospital waiting times means it has ignored prevention. The root causes of ill-health must be understood and the balance shifted towards prevention rather than cure.” 24dash.com
The Parliamentary question from Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many diagnoses of alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver there were in each of the last10 years, broken down by age.
The figures are available on Hansard here.
Source: Alcohol Policy UK March 21, 2007 Permalink
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, Sandra Gidley MP said: “The UK has one of the worst binge drinking problems in Europe. Ministers should have woken up to this issue and taken action years ago. It is especially worrying to think how early these young people must have started drinking to get so ill. These tragic cases are symptomatic of the serious and growing problem of underage drinking. Health professionals have repeatedly warned ministers about the increasing danger of binge drinking amongst our young people, but too little has been done.
"The Government’s obsession with hospital waiting times means it has ignored prevention. The root causes of ill-health must be understood and the balance shifted towards prevention rather than cure.” 24dash.com
The Parliamentary question from Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many diagnoses of alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver there were in each of the last10 years, broken down by age.
The figures are available on Hansard here.
Source: Alcohol Policy UK March 21, 2007 Permalink
'Health disaster' fear as pupils turn to cocaine
Drug dealers are targeting schools and a "worrying number" of youngsters are trying cocaine, an expert warned yesterday. As a result, the country is heading for a health care disaster, Prof John Henry, the UK's leading expert on illicit drug use, told The Daily Telegraph. He predicted a dramatic rise in heart attacks, strokes and neurological problems among young people. He spoke as a new report said that almost one in five secondary school pupils in England, some as young as 11, took illegal drugs last year.
The number of children aged 11-15 dabbling in drugs was contributing to an increase in the number of adults addicted to Class A drugs such as cocaine, with massive knock-on costs for the NHS. Hospital admissions linked to illegal drugs have tripled in five years.
The report was published by The Information Centre for Health and Social Care, a Government-funded body. The number of pupils who told researchers that they had used drugs in the previous month had fallen slightly over a five-year period. But the report said that the numbers who took cocaine or ecstasy in the past year have not dropped and represent four per cent -- or around 140,000 children.
Around 17 per cent of pupils took some kind of illegal drug, rising to 29 per cent among 15-year-olds. Nearly one in five at secondary school were offered Class A drugs such as ecstasy, LSD, heroin, cocaine, crack, magic mushrooms, and amphetamines.
The report, which also looked at adult drug-taking in England and Wales, found that the number of cannabis users was down, from 10 per cent to eight per cent, but cocaine was the second most common drug.
Those taking Class A drugs rose in the past eight years from 2.7 per cent to 3.4 per cent, about 1.4 million adults, mainly due to an increase in cocaine use. Prof Susan Paterson, a toxicologist at Imperial College, London, who works with coroners on heroin deaths in the capital, said: "Ten years ago we hardly saw cocaine. Now it is commonplace."
Prof Henry said: "If dealers can find a new audience they will go for it. It is very brutal, very aggressive. "If you have a large number of people trying cocaine, you will have more people addicted." Cocaine usage had peaked in the US but was still on the rise here "which means the worst is yet to come, we're going to see more severe addiction, more strokes and heart attacks in young people, and more of the other complications linked to its usage".
There were 171 deaths from cocaine in 2005, up from 19 in 1996, but the professor said the figure was a gross underestimate because many cocaine users died of heart attacks and strokes. Prof Henry said: "We did research into people with chest pain and we found that about 30 per cent of people coming into hospital under 40 had taken cocaine." Cocaine use has been boosted because it has become more socially acceptable and the supply is more plentiful. A gram wrap costs as little as £45 and experts fear its use will soar until it reaches a peak, as it did in the 1990s in the US, where there are now 25 million users and two million addicts. According to the report, three per cent of pupils who said they had taken drugs in the past month were just 11 or 12 years old.
In 2006, 17 per cent of boys had taken drugs in the past year and 10 per cent in the past month. The figures for girls were 16 per cent and eight per cent respectively. Meanwhile, the numbers of adults in hospital where drug use is a factor has risen nearly threefold in 10 years to 38,364, while drug treatment centres are overwhelmed, with 181,390 drug users visiting them last year - up 13 per cent in 12 months. Some 8,200 pupils in 290 schools completed questionnaires last autumn for the survey.
Source: Daily Telegraph April 2007
The number of children aged 11-15 dabbling in drugs was contributing to an increase in the number of adults addicted to Class A drugs such as cocaine, with massive knock-on costs for the NHS. Hospital admissions linked to illegal drugs have tripled in five years.
The report was published by The Information Centre for Health and Social Care, a Government-funded body. The number of pupils who told researchers that they had used drugs in the previous month had fallen slightly over a five-year period. But the report said that the numbers who took cocaine or ecstasy in the past year have not dropped and represent four per cent -- or around 140,000 children.
Around 17 per cent of pupils took some kind of illegal drug, rising to 29 per cent among 15-year-olds. Nearly one in five at secondary school were offered Class A drugs such as ecstasy, LSD, heroin, cocaine, crack, magic mushrooms, and amphetamines.
The report, which also looked at adult drug-taking in England and Wales, found that the number of cannabis users was down, from 10 per cent to eight per cent, but cocaine was the second most common drug.
Those taking Class A drugs rose in the past eight years from 2.7 per cent to 3.4 per cent, about 1.4 million adults, mainly due to an increase in cocaine use. Prof Susan Paterson, a toxicologist at Imperial College, London, who works with coroners on heroin deaths in the capital, said: "Ten years ago we hardly saw cocaine. Now it is commonplace."
Prof Henry said: "If dealers can find a new audience they will go for it. It is very brutal, very aggressive. "If you have a large number of people trying cocaine, you will have more people addicted." Cocaine usage had peaked in the US but was still on the rise here "which means the worst is yet to come, we're going to see more severe addiction, more strokes and heart attacks in young people, and more of the other complications linked to its usage".
There were 171 deaths from cocaine in 2005, up from 19 in 1996, but the professor said the figure was a gross underestimate because many cocaine users died of heart attacks and strokes. Prof Henry said: "We did research into people with chest pain and we found that about 30 per cent of people coming into hospital under 40 had taken cocaine." Cocaine use has been boosted because it has become more socially acceptable and the supply is more plentiful. A gram wrap costs as little as £45 and experts fear its use will soar until it reaches a peak, as it did in the 1990s in the US, where there are now 25 million users and two million addicts. According to the report, three per cent of pupils who said they had taken drugs in the past month were just 11 or 12 years old.
In 2006, 17 per cent of boys had taken drugs in the past year and 10 per cent in the past month. The figures for girls were 16 per cent and eight per cent respectively. Meanwhile, the numbers of adults in hospital where drug use is a factor has risen nearly threefold in 10 years to 38,364, while drug treatment centres are overwhelmed, with 181,390 drug users visiting them last year - up 13 per cent in 12 months. Some 8,200 pupils in 290 schools completed questionnaires last autumn for the survey.
Source: Daily Telegraph April 2007
Youngsters having treatment for drug abuse up by a fifth
The number of children between nine and 15 sent for drug treatment shot up by a fifth last year, according to official figures
The number of children between nine and 15 sent for drug treatment shot up by a fifth last year, according to official figures. More than 9,000 were sent on courses to try to curb the drug abuse that led them into crime and anti-social behaviour.
Most were ordered to take drug treatment by the courts after convictions for crimes seen as linked to their drug habit. The majority sent for treatment were found to be using cannabis. But an increasing proportion are taking other drugs, notably cocaine.
The figures, released by the Department of Health to MPs, show a 20 per cent rise in the number of children entering treatment for drug problems, up from 7,500 in 2005-2006 to 9,031 in 2006-2007.
The number who were said to have their main problem with cannabis was 5,037, 56 per cent of the total. The previous year there were 4,567 who gave cannabis as their predominant drug, 61 per cent of the total.
Campaigners against drugs warned that the assumption among many adults that taking drugs is harmless has contributed to their growing use by children.
Mary Brett, of Europe Against Drugs, said: "This is what happens when the common attitude to drugs is that taking them is normal. "We are finding children acting as runners for dealers and committing crime themselves to pay for drugs. Children are also unlikely to take notice of all the information about cannabis as a cause of psychosis that older teenagers are aware of.”
A Department of Health spokesman said: "These figures reflect the massive improvements that have been made over the past few years in engaging more people in effective drug treatment. "We have seen a reduction in cannabis use across all age groups.
But the MagistrateAssociation reported recently that the Government’s decision to downgrade the criminal status of cannabis in 2004 has produced a boom in youth crime, notably among 12 and 13-year-olds.
The number of children between nine and 15 sent for drug treatment shot up by a fifth last year, according to official figures. More than 9,000 were sent on courses to try to curb the drug abuse that led them into crime and anti-social behaviour.
Most were ordered to take drug treatment by the courts after convictions for crimes seen as linked to their drug habit. The majority sent for treatment were found to be using cannabis. But an increasing proportion are taking other drugs, notably cocaine.
The figures, released by the Department of Health to MPs, show a 20 per cent rise in the number of children entering treatment for drug problems, up from 7,500 in 2005-2006 to 9,031 in 2006-2007.
The number who were said to have their main problem with cannabis was 5,037, 56 per cent of the total. The previous year there were 4,567 who gave cannabis as their predominant drug, 61 per cent of the total.
Campaigners against drugs warned that the assumption among many adults that taking drugs is harmless has contributed to their growing use by children.
Mary Brett, of Europe Against Drugs, said: "This is what happens when the common attitude to drugs is that taking them is normal. "We are finding children acting as runners for dealers and committing crime themselves to pay for drugs. Children are also unlikely to take notice of all the information about cannabis as a cause of psychosis that older teenagers are aware of.”
A Department of Health spokesman said: "These figures reflect the massive improvements that have been made over the past few years in engaging more people in effective drug treatment. "We have seen a reduction in cannabis use across all age groups.
But the MagistrateAssociation reported recently that the Government’s decision to downgrade the criminal status of cannabis in 2004 has produced a boom in youth crime, notably among 12 and 13-year-olds.
'ENDING BINGE DRINKING HOLDS KEY TO SOLVING DRUG PROBLEM'
Delegates at the Acpos annual drugs conference this week will be shown a DVD of boys in Polmont young offenders institute, describing the natural transition for them from binge drinking to taking cannabis and other drugs, including heroin and cocaine.
For many of them, this was the reason they ended up behind bars.
The progression of young people trying cannabis and then moving on to harder drugs is a well-known argument against legalising cannabis but Graeme Pearson, the head of the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), says it is time to tackle the problem much earlier, from before the stage of underage binge drinking.
"Reducing binge drinking among 11 to 15-year-olds will decrease the numbers who go on to be involved in drugs," he says, after speaking to scores of offenders about their experiences.
To the people, including the advocate Donald Findlay, who have recently called for cannabis to be decriminalised and regulated in the same way as alcohol, he suggests looking at Scotland's worsening public health record on drinking.
National statistics revealed last week that, despite having only 8.5% of the UK population, Scotland has three-quarters of the worst 20 areas for drink-related fatalities.
Between 2004 and 2005, there were 3500 psychiatric discharges where the main diagnosis was linked to alcohol. In the same period there were 931 drug-related discharges.
"Why would we want drugs to be managed or licensed in the same way as drink and see the problems more than triple?" he asks.
"I see the Scottish habit of abusing alcohol as being inextricably tied into our experience of drug abuse at the user level. Evidence from prisoners reinforces this view. The link to an alcohol strategy will be critical. One without the other will not work."
There is growing concern not only about the increas-ing use and cultivation of cannabis since it was reclassified, but about its strength.
According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction THC, the active ingredient in herbal cannabis, has doubled in strength between 1995 and 2002.
Mr Pearson says educating young people about the dangers of substances such as cannabis and using treatment to help people come off drugs, is vital.
Sweden takes a hard line on alcohol and drugs misuse. It also has one of the lowest prevalence of cannabis use in Europe.
Its policy of a "drug-free society" has brought the introduction of new laws since the 1980s, calling for the prosecution of all drugs cases, even the very minor. Those caught for possession can be imprisoned for up to six months.
Mr Pearson said: "Sweden has taken a very hard line on drugs. But it is still about a package of education, protection and enforcement.
"Scotland surprisingly accepted the challenge of public smoking and proved it could accept the impossible. If we can change behaviour in respect of smoking after 200 years of a love affair, we should surely be capable of facing the challenge of alcohol and drugs."
__________________________________________________________________________
For many of them, this was the reason they ended up behind bars.
The progression of young people trying cannabis and then moving on to harder drugs is a well-known argument against legalising cannabis but Graeme Pearson, the head of the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency (SCDEA), says it is time to tackle the problem much earlier, from before the stage of underage binge drinking.
"Reducing binge drinking among 11 to 15-year-olds will decrease the numbers who go on to be involved in drugs," he says, after speaking to scores of offenders about their experiences.
To the people, including the advocate Donald Findlay, who have recently called for cannabis to be decriminalised and regulated in the same way as alcohol, he suggests looking at Scotland's worsening public health record on drinking.
National statistics revealed last week that, despite having only 8.5% of the UK population, Scotland has three-quarters of the worst 20 areas for drink-related fatalities.
Between 2004 and 2005, there were 3500 psychiatric discharges where the main diagnosis was linked to alcohol. In the same period there were 931 drug-related discharges.
"Why would we want drugs to be managed or licensed in the same way as drink and see the problems more than triple?" he asks.
"I see the Scottish habit of abusing alcohol as being inextricably tied into our experience of drug abuse at the user level. Evidence from prisoners reinforces this view. The link to an alcohol strategy will be critical. One without the other will not work."
There is growing concern not only about the increas-ing use and cultivation of cannabis since it was reclassified, but about its strength.
According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction THC, the active ingredient in herbal cannabis, has doubled in strength between 1995 and 2002.
Mr Pearson says educating young people about the dangers of substances such as cannabis and using treatment to help people come off drugs, is vital.
Sweden takes a hard line on alcohol and drugs misuse. It also has one of the lowest prevalence of cannabis use in Europe.
Its policy of a "drug-free society" has brought the introduction of new laws since the 1980s, calling for the prosecution of all drugs cases, even the very minor. Those caught for possession can be imprisoned for up to six months.
Mr Pearson said: "Sweden has taken a very hard line on drugs. But it is still about a package of education, protection and enforcement.
"Scotland surprisingly accepted the challenge of public smoking and proved it could accept the impossible. If we can change behaviour in respect of smoking after 200 years of a love affair, we should surely be capable of facing the challenge of alcohol and drugs."
__________________________________________________________________________
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