DRUG USE BY PUPILS SOARS

More youngsters are taking illegal drugs than ever before, a shocking new
survey has revealed.

One in eight pupils aged between 11 and 15 admitted they had used drugs in
the last year.

And by the age of sixteen 39 per cent will have tried some kind of drugs,
55 per cent will have smoked and 73 per cent drunk alcohol.

Cannabis was by far the most likely one to have been used, with 11 per cent
of the 9,000 pupils quizzed saying they had smoked the substance in the
last year.

One in a 100 had used crack or cocaine and one in 200 had used heroin or
methadone, according to the Office of National Statistics.

The Government's drugs czar Keith Hellawell said: "Children must understand
the dangers."