PARENTS WARNED ON DRUGS

Australia's peak Scouting body has told parents if they use marijuana
their children should be allowed to smoke it too.

The Scout Association's national executive committee has also told
parents the illegal drug is not addictive and does not cause cancer or
birth defects in babies.

And they say those promoting marijuana are winning the battle for its
widespread use.

Statements are made in a new Scouts Australia publication titled
Issues in Adolescent Health.

Designed as a "common sense" information guide for parents, the free
booklet gives advice on smoking, alcohol, sex, hard drugs, sun
exposure and marijuana.

On alcohol, Scouts Australia tells parents they are handling the
threat of alcohol abuse by young people very well, despite figures
showing 40% of teenagers drink alcohol regularly.

On other adolescent health issues, the booklet states:

Marijuana produces a pleasurable mild euphoria and is used by one in
five teenagers every week, with 40% having experimented with the drug.

At the age of 14 almost a quarter of all males and 16% of females have
had sex.

Among older teenage girls, 30% smoke cigarettes every
week.

One in ten teenagers have tried glue sniffing.

Only 50% of females use sunscreen when they are at risk of
sunburn.

Hard drugs such as heroin and amphetamines, are growing in
availability.

The booklet also claims the average age of onset of adolescence is
getting younger.

Girls and boys have been entering puberty, younger and younger, over
the past 200 years by an average advancing age of three months every
decade.

And Scouts Australia say there is no sign of this phenomenon
"flattening", with a prediction that 100 years from now girls will be
sexually mature at an average age of 8 and boys at 10.

For now, the booklet says the average age of onset of adolescence in
boys is about 12 years and girls about 10 years.