MIDDLE-CLASS CHILDREN AT TOP OF DRUG LEAGUE

MIDDLE-CLASS children are nearly twice as likely to use illegal drugs
as those from some lower social classes, a study has revealed. Social
scientists found that as many as one in seven middle-class 11 and
12-year-olds has experimented with drugs including cannabis, cocaine
and heroin.

The research, carried out at Glasgow University, challenges the common
assumption that children from poor families are most likely to abuse
drugs.

Nearly 1,000 youngsters aged between 11 and 12 were separated into six
social groups, according to their parents' occupations. In the highest
class - where parents were mostly professional people such as lawyers
and doctors - 14.5% of youngsters admitted trying drugs. That compared
with 7.5% of children in social class three - sons and daughters of
manual labourers.

The trend was confirmed by a second analysis which showed that among
the children of middle-class and white-collar families, one seventh
had tried drugs. By comparison, nationally only 1 in 10 children had
tried drugs before the age of 13.

Most of the drug use involved cannabis, which nearly 40% admitted they
had taken. Almost 20% had used temazepam, a prescription sleeping
pill, 8% had tried cocaine and 6% heroin.

LSD, amphetamines and ecstasy were also popular among the drug-using
children, of whom more than half had tried more than one substance.
About 60% of the children who had taken drugs already had another user
in their family, usually a brother or sister.

The spread of drug use among children is likely to be linked to the
sharp increase in drug use among people in their teens and early
twenties. Very young children are far more likely to be exposed to
drug abuse through older siblings and, in some cases, their parents,
than in the past.

Neil McKeganey, director of the Centre for Drug Misuse at Glasgow
University, who wrote the report, said: "Children are naturally
curious so, if they are exposed to drugs at home, they will want to
experiment. It is that exposure which makes the difference rather than
their social class."

Last week an 11-year-old was found with heroin worth UKP500 in one of
his shoes at a primary school in Scotland. Another eight-year-old was
caught with cannabis worth more than UKP1,000 at a primary school in
Surrey.

Janet, a personal assistant in Manchester, discovered that her two
sons were using drugs when one was 13 and the other 18. "When I found
out, I ranted and raged at them like someone demented," she said this
weekend.

"I had always thought people who took drugs were scum. But here I was
with all my ambitions for my own children and they were taking drugs.
I never want to feel like that again."

The report comes as the government is drawing up new guidelines for
schools, under which children as young as five will be taught about
the dangers of drugs. Older children, from 7 to 11, will be told how
to resist temptation and peer pressure.

Keith Hellawell, the former chief constable who was last year
appointed by the government to lead the fight against drugs, said: "We
need to develop children's social skills so they feel they can say
'No' without causing offence and can resist pressure to conform and
experiment."

Checked-by: Patrick Henry