CANNABIS "NORMAL" FOR YOUTHS

Heavy smoking, drinking and the occasional use of cannabis are firmly
established as "normal" among teenagers across the UK, it is claimed.

A study has found that the UK's youth has a "serious problem" with drinking
and smoking.

A third of all girls surveyed and 39.5% of boys had used some form of drug,
most commonly cannabis. Overall, only 6.2% had never drunk alcohol and most
(72%) had at some time been intoxicated.

Drug use was most common among boys in Scotland and least common in Wales
and Northern Ireland.

The 1999 study, carried out by the Alcohol and Health Research Centre in
Edinburgh, surveyed 1,361 girls and 1,280 boys attending 223 state and
private schools across the UK.

It concludes: "These behaviours are firmly established as normative among
teenagers throughout the UK."