BRITAIN CANNABIS CAPITAL OF EUROPE

Caption: 40% of teenagers and 9% of adults have smoked cannabis

More cannabis is smoked in England and Wales by both adults and teenagers
than in any other country in the European Union.

The use of ecstasy, amphetamines and LSD in England and Wales is also higher
than anywhere else in the EU, along with the Republic of Ireland and the
Netherlands.

In its 1999 report, Europe's drug monitoring agency also says teenage
schoolchildren in England and Wales have the worse drugs record.

The agency has found up to 40% of 15 and 16-year-olds in England and Wales
have tried cannabis, the highest rate in the EU.

Across all age groups more people were found to have used cannabis in
England and Wales in the last 12 months than in any other country.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction agency, based in
Lisbon, has more damning statistics for England and Wales.

More school children have abused solvents than in any other EU country.

Also 2% of teenagers in England and Wales have experimented with heroin,
again the worst record in Europe.

The agency published its report on drug prevalence, usage patterns and
responses on Monday.

Its monitoring centre in Portugal, was created in 1994 to provide EU leaders
with reliable statistics to help them co-ordinate drug policies.

The agency's report does make some positive remarks about the fight against
drug abuse in England and Wales.

It says cannabis use among teenagers "has stabilised or even decreased",
whereas it is still on the rise in other EU countries.

Almost half of the entire heroin seized in the EU in 1997 was intercepted in
Britain, which has consistently topped the league of drug seizures since
1995.

The report said drug-related HIV infection rates among intravenous drug
users were just 1% in Britain compared to 32% in Spain.

The agency estimates 40 million people have tried cannabis, out of an EU
population of 375 million.

As many as five million may have tried heroin, and the problem is spreading
beyond big cities to towns and rural areas.

The number of addicts and other problem drug users has also increased to an
estimated 1.5 million.

In general the 1999 report says the prevalence of problem drug use seems to
be lowest in Germany, Austria, Finland and Sweden and highest in Italy,
Luxembourg and the UK.