UK YOUNG CANNABIS USERS TOP EU LEAGUE

Special report: drugs in Britain

Children in Britain use cannabis more than in almost any other country in
Europe, according to a report published yesterday by the EU's drug
monitoring agency.

The figures also show that one in 10 British adults - a higher proportion
than anywhere else in the EU - is using cannabis, while across the union one
in five people has tried it once. British adults also use more than twice as
much amphetamine as anyone else in Europe.

Luxembourg, the smallest state in the 15-member EU, has the highest
proportion of "problem" drug users - mostly heroin addicts - at around seven
for every 1,000 people between the ages of 15 and 64. It is followed by
Italy, with six, and Britain and Spain with five.

According to the annual report, State of Drugs in the EU, cannabis is now
the most widely available and commonly used drug. Use of cannabis by British
children is in the range of 30% to 40%, along with Ireland and the
Netherlands, compared with 5% to 7% in Portugal and Sweden.

The Lisbon-based European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
said that at least 45m Europeans had now tried it, up 5m from more than a
year ago.

"Recreational use of cannabis is simply not considered as the first step
down the road to drug abuse," George Estievenart, director of the centre,
told reporters in Brussels.

But in remarks that will have resonance for debate in the UK, he warned that
prison was not the answer. "If you slap people in prison for having a small
amount of cannabis for their own use, after a few years you choke the
prisons. Prisons are overcrowded, so they share cells with people who have
done much worse. Someone who enters prison as a weekend consumer of cannabis
comes out with very different habits," he said.

Ecstasy and amphetamines were the second most popular recreational drugs,
with use of the former showing signs of stabilising, or even falling, while
the latter could still be on the rise. Amphetamines are generally used by
1%-4% of adults across the EU, but by up to 10% in Britain.

Although Britain heads the list for cannabis use over the past 12 months,
Denmark is top of the table for taking the drug over the past decade.

The report highlights the rise in Britain and Spain in the availability of
cheap heroin. Mr Estievenart pointed to concern about heavy multiple drug
use arising from the ecstasy/rave scene.

"Patterns of weekend and recreational drug use increasingly involve
combinations of illicit and legal drugs, including alcohol and
tranquillisers," the report said.

"There is a significant rise in drug use, often in conjunction with heavy
alcohol consumption. Abuse of lighter fuel, aerosols and glue is often more
common among children than amphetamines and ecstasy and is increasing in
some countries."

Cocaine is less commonly used than either amphetamines or ecstasy, but its
use is still rising and spreading to a broader population.

The report shows too that women drug users are deterred from seeking
treatment because they fear being labelled as unfit mothers and losing their
children. The result is that only one female drug user goes into drug
treatment for every three men.