YOUNG BRITONS RAVE LESS ABOUT ECSTASY

Ecstasy's popularity appears to have peaked and it may now be regarded
as "yesterday's dance drug" by Britain's teenagers, official figures
suggest.

Home Office ministers say ecstasy use has fallen for the first time
and that wider class-A drug abuse among young people, including
cocaine use, has stabilised after rising in the late 1990s.

However, illegal drug use in England and Wales remains among the
highest in Europe.

The 21 per cent fall in ecstasy use in the last year among young
people has been accompanied by a steady decline in the use of
amphetamines.

The new British Crime Survey figures show that the continuing fall in
amphetamine use has meant that, for the first time, the legal
prescription drug amyl nitrate (poppers) is now more widely used by
16- to 24-year-olds.

The annual official survey of illicit drug use in England and Wales
also shows that the Government's announcement that it intends to relax
the laws on cannabis has not led, as some predicted, to an increase in
its use.

Cannabis remains the most frequently used illegal drug, with about 3
million people smoking a joint in the past year.

The survey also appears to show that the highest levels of drug abuse
are no longer found in the 16-19 age group but rather among their
brothers and sisters aged 20-24, who often use drugs at weekends while
starting their working lives.

It also dispels the myth that drug abuse is worst in run-down
inner-city council estates. In fact it is highest in affluent urban
areas, with one in five households, or 22 per cent, said to contain
somebody using drugs.

A spokeswoman for the drugs charity Drugscope cautioned against
reading too much into one year's figures.