PSYCHIATRIST SAYS 10-YEAR-OLDS CLUB TOGETHER TO BUY DRUGS

A child and adolescent psychiatrist with the Mid-Western Health Board said
yesterday that children as young as 10 are pooling their lunch money to buy
drugs instead of sandwiches.

Dr Yvonne Bailey told a board meeting in Limerick she has dealt with
children as young as 10 who have bought cannabis.

"I'm seeing 10-year-olds who, instead of buying a school lunch, club
together to buy a 10-spot (a UKP10 quantity)," said Dr Bailey. "I also know
of kids younger than 13 who have been taken drunk into casualty."

At the board meeting yesterday members were presented with a report
entitled Teenage Alcohol, Smoking and Drug Use in the Mid-West Region.

Dr Bailey welcomed the report but called for a similar study to be
conducted among primary schoolchildren. She also called for more staff in
the child mental health service.

"We should have at least 60 staff to run a basic child mental health
service, but in fact we only have 16," she said.

"My time on the Mid-Western Health Board, however, has made me see that
there are other priorities in the healthcare service," she added.

Commenting on the report, Dr Kevin Kelleher, director of public health with
the mid-western board, said it was quite disturbing to read that one in
five 14-year-olds surveyed admitted to being drunk in the month before the
survey.

He also expressed serious concern at the increase in the misuse of
inhalants during the last five years.

"People don't see inhalants as a problem, but these are the most dangerous
drugs as they are the ones that often kill the first time they are used,"
said Dr Kelleher.

The report surveyed almost 2,300 secondary school students from 23 schools
across Limerick, Clare and Tipperary.

It found that the number of teenagers who had used inhalants in their
lifetime had increased by almost 8 per cent to 21.3 per cent in the four
years since the last survey.

A total of 6.8 per cent of those surveyed reported use within the 30 days
before the report, compared to 2.7 per cent in 1998. Cannabis and inhalants
were reported as the main illicit drugs, which was consistent with the
findings of the 1998 survey.

The latest report found that cannabis use increased with age, with 17.5 per
cent of students aged 14 using cannabis in their lifetime. This rate
increased to 37.6 per cent of those aged 17 years.

Alcohol was the main substance of misuse with 90.2 per cent of teenagers
admitting they had consumed alcohol at least once in their lifetime, an
increase of nearly 9 per cent since the 1989 report.