DRUGS OFFER THE MOST EXHILARATING EXPERIENCE YOU CAN ENCOUNTER

The boy walks out of the school gates and turns towards the bus stop.
A car pulls up and a young man in a leather coat gets out and stops
him. The conversation is short, money is exchanged, the man gets back
into the car, and the boy gets on to the bus with an eighth of skunk
in his trouser pocket. In a couple of months' time he will have moved
on to speed, perhaps ecstasy, and by the end of the year Britain will
have another heroin addict. This simply doesn't happen. Twice, I've
been stopped in the streets by someone offering me cannabis. On the
first occasion, I was walking in broad daylight through the centre of
Birmingham when I was approached by a young man in his early 20s. He
asked me if I wanted any weed. I said no and he went off.

The second occurrence was similar. Walking to the pub on a Friday
night, a friend and I were asked by another young man if we wanted to
buy any skunk. Again we both refused. Again he didn't hassle us or try
to persuade us otherwise. While it has happened on occasions, it is
rare, certainly in this city, that young people are forced into using
drugs by drug peddlers or pushers. We are likely to feel the strongest
pressure to experiment from close friends.

The majority of teenagers who use cannabis will be introduced to it
either by a friend or by an older brother or sister. It is a myth that
shady men accost innocent children in darkened back alleys. Another
myth that needs to be dispelled is that the use of cannabis invariably
leads on to harder drugs. Yes, 99 per cent of heroin addicts did start
on cannabis, but 100 per cent of all alcoholics started on alcohol.
What is ignored is that compared to three million plus regular
cannabis users, there are 43,000 registered heroin users. Teenagers
use cannabis as a recreational drug in much the same way as people use
alcohol for pleasure The main difference is that instead of turning
into a "lad", cannabis can calm you down.

If I wanted cannabis I could ask any number of my friends who use it
regularly. I'd know exactly what I was getting, what the quality was
like, and I wouldn't be ripped off. As I am an 18-year-old living in
the city, it is nearly impossible to avoid drugs. Friends of mine
first started smoking cannabis when we were 14. While they weren't
forced to take it, there was a feeling of not wanting to be left out
of what was going on. As we got older and started going to clubs,
speed and ecstasy became more readily available. Once more, the
pressure came from the desire to be involved and go through the same
experiences as everyone else.

However, I didn't have to take drugs to experience them. Drugs are
there, a part of life for teenagers even if they don't take them
themselves. There is a whole culture surrounding drugs, from music and
clubs, to magazines and clothes. It affects everything, and not
necessarily in a bad way.

The "drug tsar" Keith Hellawell's annual report came out this week, to
the accompaniment of press uproar about rugby captain Lawrence
Dallaglio's youthful drug habits. One of the few good things in
Hellawell's report was the switch of its emphasis from cannabis to
heroin and cocaine. Cannabis is a completely separate drug, used in
completely different surroundings. Cannabis users don't steal to feed
their habit in the way heroin and cocaine users have been known to do.
However, the report failed to tackle the reason why young people use
drugs in the first place. It is no wonder that the government wasn't
keen to address the problem. Young people use drugs because there is
little else to do and because, quite simply, they make you feel good.

Drugs are likely to offer the most exhilarating experience many people
are ever likely to encounter. The buzz that can be had from taking an
ecstasy pill or a wrap of speed at a club is mind-blowing. You can
tell at a club who the people are who have taken something. One look
in their eyes tells you they are having the time of their life,
escaping to another world. They are completely unselfconscious, not
caring one bit what other people might think of them.

Teenagers want to forget they've got to revise or hand in an essay.
Many of those in work want to relieve the boredom of their daily
lives. Therefore, the weekends become the main focus of energy. The
opportunity is there at clubs to take something that will make your
worries disappear over the horizon.

That's not to say that drugs don't have damaging side-effects. They
do. I know several people who have had bad trips, bad pills,
uncomfortable come-downs. But most will probably be taking the same
drug next weekend, because on the whole, the good experiences far
outweigh the bad. Indeed, the problem may not have been the drug
itself. The majority of ecstasy victims actually die because of
dehydration. If they had been taught what to do if taking ecstasy then
they would still be alive today.

But drug lessons at school are a rarity. And when they do occur, they
are often along the lines of "Just Say No". This doesn't work. Only if
we are presented with a balanced argument, accepting that drugs do
have their good sides, will drugs education begin to succeed.
Teenagers are human beings, capable of making informed decisions about
their own bodies. When a teacher tells you drugs can kill you, and
your best mate tells you that you'll have the time of your life, who
are you going to believe?

Stevi Bloomfield is an A-level student in Birmingham.