DRUGS SOLD IN SCHOOL PLAYGROUNDS

Education Officials Prepare Leaflet Which Warns Senior Pupils
They Face Expulsion For Dealing To Their Peers

A THIRD of Aberdeen secondary school children who have experimented
with drugs obtained their supplies from playground dealers, according
to a survey.

It also emerged that concerned education officials have drafted a
leaflet warning senior school pupils that they face expulsion if they
are found to have been dealing drugs to their peers.

Charles Muir, the city council's assistant director of education, said
that the decision to issue the leaflet was taken before the results of
the Grampian Youth Lifestyle Survey, which was conducted by a publicly
funded health body, were known. He said its findings showed there was
a need for vigilance.

He said: "Schools are part of the community. They are not and should
not be shut off, but occasionally and unfortunately these things do
happen, and obviously we are aware of what is a comparatively small
number of incidents.

"The policy and the leaflet are aimed at making sure that people,
whether they are teachers, parents or students, know exactly what the
implications are."

The council is the first local authority in Scotland to issue such a
direct warning on drug dealing to pupils, and other authorities are
considering following suit.

"It is really to spell out to the youngsters themselves what they can
expect if something like this happens," added Mr Muir. "It tells them
that the school will contact the police and their parents, will seek
medical advice and take appropriate disciplinary action.

"The disciplinary action depends on the type of involvement, because
obviously there is a difference between someone who is actively
supplying drugs and somebody involved in a lesser way.

"The advantage of a survey like this is that it picks out things like
this, which convince us that we are doing the right thing by
distributing this leaflet to pupils. We are encouraged by some of the
survey's findings, but there are things like this that we need to keep
a very careful eye on."

A Grampian Police spokeswoman confirmed the force had investigated a
number of drugs-related incidents at city schools.

The study showed that 43 per cent of school-age children in the region
had been offered drugs, and 26 per cent had used them. Both these
percentages had fallen, from 45 per cent and 30 per cent respectively,
since the previous survey was carried out in 1995.

However, health workers welcomed other responses to the survey, which
was conducted over the whole of the north-east of Scotland, as
evidence that more young people were heeding warnings about the
dangers of drugs.

Stephanie Allison, health promotions co-ordinator with Aberdeen City
Council, said: "It is very encouraging to read that fewer young people
are being offered drugs and fewer are actually trying them. This
indicates that health education in schools is getting the message across."

Louie MacAllan, managing director of Grampian Health Promotions, which
commissioned the survey, said the findings showed that health workers
could make an impact on young people by pinpointing key areas in which
to get their message across.

"The previous youth lifestyle survey highlighted certain problems, and
now we are seeing the benefits of having focused our efforts on those
issues," she said. "It is particularly encouraging to see a clear
connection between these results and the issues we have concentrated
on."

The survey also suggests more teenagers are also choosing to eat more
healthily and fewer are taking up smoking, but it also revealed that
alcohol consumption among schoolchildren in the area had risen since
the previous survey.

It showed that boys drank an average of 19 units of alcohol a week,
compared with 12 units in 1995, and girls drank 13 units, compared
with ten units three years ago. Thirteen per cent of the children
questioned said they wanted to cut down on their alcohol
consumption.

The survey was conducted in September and October last year, and
involved a 10 per cent sample of pupils from schools across the region.

The study brought almost 2,500 responses from youngsters in all
secondary school age groups, and health workers said the size of the
sample ensured that the survey was an accurate measure of young
people's behaviour and attitudes.

Meanwhile, Grampian Health Board yesterday announced it had received
an additional UKP270,000 in government funding for HIV and drugs
initiatives over the next 12 months.