THE 'SHOCKINGLY YOUNG' VICTIMS HOOKED ON HEROIN

Britain's teenage heroin users are likely to start taking the drug at
15 - more than two years younger than in the 1980s epidemic, according
to a new study.

Three-quarters of the young addicts have also tried crack cocaine and
on average they spend more than UKP160 a week on their habit, mostly
financed by benefit handouts and theft.

The research highlights the "shockingly young" teenagers who are
caught up in an addiction menace spreading rapidly across the country.

A study of 86 heroin users aged 15 to 20 in four unnamed locations - a
small city and three towns - found that most had experienced
"significant difficulties" in their childhood, with all but one of the
teenagers roaming the streets unsupervised from the age of 13.

Their introduction to heroin, according to the findings by charity
DrugScope, was usually through drug-using friends.

Initially the heroin was smoked, but once the habit increased it led
to "widespread" experimental injecting of the drug.

DrugScope chief executive Roger Howard said: "This extremely important
study provides us with a crucial insight into the world of teenage
heroin users, many of whom are shockingly young.

"It is particularly worrying many of the youngsters interviewed had no
idea of the potency of heroin before they tried it, and that
three-quarters of them have already used crack cocaine."

The report described the young people as "initially very naive and
ill-informed about heroin". They did not understand its potency and
addictiveness. A vast majority of the teenage heroin users had tried
other drugs - 99 per cent trying cannabis, 92 per cent amphetamines,
83 per cent LSD, 82 per cent tranquillisers, 81 per cent methadone, 75
per cent crack, and 55 per cent cocaine.

The teenagers were "too insecure and immature" to understand the
benefits of seeking help and had a large distrust of adult authority,
said the report.

Several years usually elapsed before young heroin users might turn up
for treatment as adults or were "netted" as lawbreakers.

By this time they were socially excluded having lost friends who were
not on drugs and found themselves outside the jobs market.

Almost half the young people in the survey had no qualifications. All
but six per cent played truant from school regularly and almost
two-thirds had been excluded from school at some time. More than half
the teenagers said they could get their hands on heroin 24 hours a
day. A third said it was available to them at most times of the day.

The average amount spent on drugs was more than UKP160 a week, around
UKP8,320 a year.

Most young users bought the drugs with their benefits or through
crime, particularly shoplifting. Some resorted to begging and
prostitution.

The majority had a criminal record though had avoided being sent to
prison. Many were described as "delinquents" before they had even
taken heroin, but the drug had increased their offending.

Mr Howard added: "This research project does not attempt to discover
how many such 'hidden' young heroin users there may be nationally."We
urgently need more similar community-based studies to assess the scale
of the problem."