LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuter) Almost a quarter of Britons aged between 16 and
29 admit to having taken illegal drugs in the past year, and one in seven
did so within the past month, a government survey published on Friday said.

But the survey, part of a larger look into crime in Britain, suggested that
the level of drug taking had not risen significantly since a similar probe
in 1994.

Cannabis was the most popular drug, with 21 percent of young people having
used it during the last 12 months.

It was far ahead of amphetamines and ecstasy while only one percent of
those surveyed said they had ever tried heroin.

Junior interior minister George Howarth said he was to some extent
reassured by the signs that drug taking is not on the increase.

But he added: ``The figures are still worryingly high. Around one in two
young people has experimented with a drug at some point in their lives, and
one in four had taken a drug in the last year.''