YOUNG BRITONS TAKE MOST CANNABIS

ENGLAND has the highest number of 15-year-olds who are heavy cannabis
users in Europe according to an EU report.

The annual survey from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and
Drug Addiction also shows about 7 per cent of British 15-year-olds use
cannabis at least 40 times a year.

It also shows that more schoolchildren have tried the drug than
elsewhere in the EU, with 40 per cent of 15-year-olds experimenting
with it.

Cannabis use among 15 to 34-year-olds in England and Wales is the
second highest in Europe after Denmark.

Britain has the highest number of seizures but Spain accounts for half
of all cannabis seized in the past five years. The survey estimates
that there may be three million daily cannabis users in the EU and one
in five young people have tried it. The report says: "There is concern
that a small but significant group, of predominantly young men, are
using the drug more intensively and that numbers of those doing so may
be growing."

Between 1 and 10 per cent of young Europeans have taken cocaine.
Between 5 and 7 per cent of people aged 15 to 24 in Britain and Spain
admitted to using cocaine recently, with levels in towns and cities
likely to be "substantially higher".

Britain and Spain have the highest use of the drug among
15-24-year-olds in the past year across Europe with 2 per cent of the
age group using the drug against a European average of 1 per cent.

The report suggests rising use of cocaine and found that the number of
mentions of cocaine on death certificates in Britain increased
eightfold between 1993 and 2001 although still lower than for heroin.

The monitors report growing concern at the spread of crack cocaine in
British cities and Britain is among the top five countries for
"problem drug users", reporting six to 10 cases for every 1,000 adults.

Caroline Flint, the Home Office minister responsible for drug policy,
said that the report was based on two-year-old data.

"More recent trends have seen a steady fall in the use of cannabis,
amphetamines and, more recently, ecstasy," she said.