TEENAGERS 'SMOKE CANNABIS MORE THAN TOBACCO'

TEENAGERS living in rural Scotland are more likely to smoke cannabis than
tobacco, researchers have found.

The findings of a survey, conducted by a new drugs agency in Inverness,
have emerged days after another report suggested that young people living
in rural areas were taking more drugs than those in the inner cities.

Last night, anti-drugs campaigners claimed that increasing evidence that
illegal drugs are being widely used by young people in rural Scotland
should alert parents mistakenly believing that drugs have not reached the
countryside.

The warning came as Blast, a drugs advice and information centre to be
opened in Inverness, prepares to publish the results of a survey designed
to establish the drugs history and attitudes of more than 300 teenagers who
attended a rave in the Highlands.

The project co-ordinator, Natalie Morel, confirmed that the research shows
that most young people questioned would be more likely to smoke cannabis
than tobacco. "Young people know about the health implications of smoking
cigarettes but have not received the same level of information about
cannabis and other drugs," she said.

The drugs centre will open next month when the research revealing that a
range of drugs, including cannabis, ecstasy and amphetamine, are common
throughout the Highlands will be published.

"The traditional image of drug users living only in the bigger cities and
towns no longer bears any resemblance to the reality, if it ever did," Ms
Morel said. "The only difference is that young people living in the country
find it harder to get reliable information about those drugs. In smaller
communities, where everyone knows everyone, young people fear that even
asking for information about drugs will gain them an unwanted reputation."

A string of remote homes across the region have been exposed as cannabis
farms in recent years and, according to Ms Morel, the amount of
high-quality amphetamine being produced in isolated makeshift laboratories
is the only reason cocaine has not yet gained a foothold in the Highlands.

She said that dealers were common in even the smallest villages and, if
necessary, young people would often send a representative to bigger towns
to buy drugs to be shared.

"They will commonly travel to Inverness, but even here there is a fear of
being recognised and some will go down to Dundee to get whatever the order
is," she said.

"People have to forget about this notion that young people living in the
country have straw behind their ears and have no idea about drugs."

The start of the drugs centre in Inverness, featuring a telephone helpline,
comes as Drugs Action, an Aberdeen information and support agency, prepares
to recruit an outreach worker to offer support, counselling and advice
exclusively to users in rural areas.

Increasing rural drug use has also been highlighted in a survey by the
Schools Health Education Unit suggesting that more young people living in
the countryside take drugs than in the inner cities.

Pupils at Scottish schools were questioned, along with teenagers in five
English health board regions before the report, Young People and Drugs
1998, concluded that almost a third of 14 and 15-year-olds living in rural
areas admitted taking one or more illegal drugs compared to less than 20
per cent in inner-cities.

Researcher David Regis, of the respected research unit based at Exeter
University, said the results of the survey were surprising.

"That particular finding should dispel any remaining belief that drugs are
solely an inner-city problem," he said.

Research has already suggested young Scots take more drugs than teenagers
anywhere else in Europe, while another report revealed they go out more
than counterparts in most other countries.

Some experts believe drug abuse among younger teenagers living in rural
areas is fuelled by the inability to buy alcohol in villages where
shop-owners know their identity.