HEROIN USE AMONG CHILDREN DOUBLES

HEROIN use among UK schoolchildren has doubled over the past four years,
according to new research published yesterday.

It shows that overall drug use has fallen "significantly" - from 40% to 33%
among girls and from 45% to 39.5% among boys.

Cannabis was the most commonly-used (36%) followed by glues and solvents
(18.6%), LSD (5.2%), amphetamines (8.9%) and ecstasy (5%), according to a
report by the Alcohol and Health Research Centre based at Edinburgh's City
Hospital.

Director Martin Plant and Senior Research Fellow Patrick Miller questioned
2641 school students aged 15 and 16 about their drug use last year, and
compared the results to a similar study in 1995.

Writing in the British Medical Journal they note that against the trend
heroin use - though "still rare" - increased from 1.5% to 3.7% of girls, and
from 1.7% to 3.4 % of boys. The reductions in other drugs might be
temporary, but were "striking'" they said.

Among girls, heroin use was admitted to by 3.7% in all UK regions, 5.4% in
Scotland and 6.8% in Northern Ireland; among boys the rates were 3.4%
overall, 6.1% in Scotland and 7.8% in Northern Ireland. ecstasy use among
girls was ran at 3.2% in all UK regions, 5.2% in Scotland and 6.3% in
Northern Ireland; among boys the rates were 3.4% overall, 5.9% in Scotland
and 6.5% in Northern Ireland.