NorthSouth reversal on teenage drugtaking

BY RICHARD FORD
HOME CORRESPONDENT

YOUNG people in the North and the Midlands are increasingly turning to
drugs, while in London and the South the practice is in decline, according
to a Home Office study published today.

Among the trendsetting 16 to 19yearolds, the North now has a higher level
of drug abuse than London, a reversal of the position three years ago. The
study even suggests that the fashion for dance drugs, such as Ecstasy, may
be in decline in the South.

Overall, in England and Wales, the level of drug misuse stabilised between
1994 and 1996, although it is too early to suggest that this is anything
other than a pause before abuse rises again.

According to the 1996 British Crime Survey, about one in four young people
in England and Wales aged 16 to 29 had taken an illegal drug in the
previous 12 months, much the same as in 199394. Cannabis was the most
commonly used drug, followed by amphetamines and LSD. Ecstasy was the least
popular of the hallucinogenic drugs, with only 9 per cent ever taking it.

George Howarth, a Home Office Minister, said that, though the figures
remained worryingly high, the overall results of the study challenged the
notion that drug misuse was escalating out of control. "We have to remember
that, for most young people, drugtaking is not part of their normal
behaviour."

The study found that 26 per cent of young people in the North and 19 per
cent in the Midlands used a drug in 1996, against 22 per cent and 16 per
cent respectively in 1994.