DRUGS SHOCK AT PRIMARY SCHOOLS

ONE in ten primary schoolchildren have been offered drugs, a shock survey
by the Southern Health Board has revealed.

And four out of 100 have tried them.

The Southern Board also found just under 70% cent of 17-year- olds have
been offered drugs and almost half of them had taken them.

The report, based on surveys carried out among young people in the Southern
Board's area, found the most widely-used drugs were cannabis, solvents,
magic mushrooms and LSD.

And while more boys than girls had tried cannabis, LSD and Ecstasy, a
greater number of girls had experimented with alcohol.

Just one percent of those surveyed, who were all boys, had tried heroin.

The figures were published in Armagh to coincide with the launch of an
action plan to tackle drug addiction in the area.

The project is the brainchild of the Southern Drugs Co- ordinating Team - a
steering committee made up of local health representatives - and aims to
educate parents.

George McCague, team co-ordinator, said while the area did not have a hard
drugs problem, there was a worrying rise in the amount of drug use.

"The drugs are right here. It's not just in Belfast, Dublin and
Londonderry. We have a drugs problem here in the district."