GP'S WARNING OVER TEEN DRUG-TAKING

A STARK warning about the dangers of teenagers taking drugs has been
issued by a York doctor.

York GP Dr David Fair has warned teenagers to resist the urge to
experiment with drugs after a High Court battle involving a girl from
the York area who took ecstasy at school.

The teenager failed in a High Court bid to remove the stigma of
expulsion from her educational record.

The girl, from the York area, but who can only be named as E for
legal reasons, was booted out from her school earlier this year.

She was accused of taking ecstasy, encouraging a friend to bring
tablets to school and asking other pupils to pop the pills.

Dr Fair said teenagers were particularly vulnerable to the side
effects of taking drugs including ecstasy and cannabis.

He said: "The teenage brain is still in a state of rapid development
and most drugs interfere with that process.

"They can cause permanent brain damage in adolescent years and
ecstasy in extreme cases can cause death.

"These are things that most teenagers aren't aware of and they think
they are fully developed and their bodies are able to cope with the
drugs."

The court heard that although E admitted to taking the drug, she
denied the other two claims, but an Independent Appeal Panel (IAP)
upheld the decision to expel her after hearing anonymous evidence
from other pupils.

E's lawyers argued that she had been put at an unfair disadvantage
because the evidence had been given in secret and she had no way of
challenging those who gave it.

Mrs Justice Black, sitting in London, was also told that there had
been a failure to give E notice of the allegations she was facing.

However, after listening to an hour of legal argument, the judge
dismissed the appeal, observing that E and her advisers had taken up
an opportunity to put her case to the panel. The judge accepted that
the expulsion might be a blot on E's educational record and could
have an impact on her future schooling. But, as E is now happy at a
new school, the judge said the challenge was, in that respect, academic.

The court heard E had responded badly to the ecstasy after she and a
friend, J, took the drug at school and teaching staff were told what
they had done.

Later it was alleged that E had encouraged other pupils to
participate and had asked J to bring in the pills, but those claims
were hotly disputed.