YOUNG TEENAGERS SMOKING LESS

Britain's younger teenagers are smoking and drinking less than their elder
brothers and sisters, but one in three secondary school pupils have
experimented with drugs, mainly cannabis, by the time they are 15,
according to an official survey published yesterday.

The fall in smoking levels among 11- to 15-year-olds disclosed by research
by the office of national statistics was hailed as the first reduction for
a decade in England and the first since 1992 in Scotland. But experts said
it was too soon to declare that the battle against smoking among
schoolchildren was being won. Girls continue to smoke more than boys and at
by the age of 15 only 30% said they had never tried a cigarette.

The hard figures showed that the growth in popularity of smoking among
schoolchildren appears to have been halted. Overall the proportion of young
teenagers smoking a cigarette at least once a week fell between 1996 and
1998 from 13% to 11% in England and from 14% to 12% in Scotland.

But the survey shows that by the age of 15 one in four schoolchildren is
smoking at least one cigarette a week and most of those who do smoke get
through 20 or more cigarettes a week.

Most got hold of the cigarettes by buying them in shops in packets of 10,
and threequarters of smokers admitted they would already find it difficult
to kick the habit.

The average amount of alcohol drunk also fell from 1.8 units a week per
pupil to 1.6 units. The ONS survey shows that the in popularity of beer,
lager and cider is declining amongst this age group.

The two-yearly survey by the government statistical service also asked
questions about drug abuse among British schoolchildren for the first time
and shows that they are not as open to suggestion as might be supposed.
Almost one third of pupils said they had been offered at least one of a
list of illegal drugs, but only 13% of the entire age group said they had
ever used them.

But the extent of drug abuse increased sharply with age, so 34% of
15-year-olds said they had tried illegal drugs, with over half saying they
had only used cannabis.

Some 12% of 15-year-olds said they had tried stimulants such as
amphetamines, poppers or cocaine. The survey does show a strong link
between smoking and illegal drugs, with 63% of regular smokers admitting
they had used drugs, compared with only 1% who had never smoked.

* Children as young as four should be the target of anti-smoking campaigns,
because once they have the smoking habit it is hard to change their
behaviour, according to NHS research.

The NHS centre for reviews and dissemination, based at York university,
said most school-based programmes targeted 11 to 17 year-olds.