Home Politics & Debate
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Read the community guidelines before posting ✨

Drug use increasingly rampant in schools

One in FIVE secondary school children have tried drugs in the last year. This was the damning conclusion of a Information Centre for Health and Social Care survey of 9,000 youngsters, aged 11-15, from 305 different schools. Their findings are as follows;

- 10% of those surveyed smoke at least one cigarette a WEEK.
- 25% said they had been offered cannabis.
- 12% said they had tried other drugs.
- 4% had taken CLASS A drugs.
- 6% of 11-year-olds said they had taken drugs in the last year.
- 33% of 15-year-olds had done the same.
- The number of 11 to 15-year-olds who smoke is DOWN by 9%.
- For more details, click here

The only piece of good news is the numbers who smoke are falling, but the rest of the results are shambolic and appalling. With drug use so rampant in schools, how do we deal with it? And can we have confidence this government knows how to deal with it? Let's see... they've downgraded cannabis whilst telling us it's bad, a message that's as clear as mud. Not the best of starts, was it? And the news that some 11-year-olds are hooked on drugs cannot be condemned enough. How the hell do we get this under control?
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
«134

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Why control it?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    klintock wrote:
    Why control it?
    Are you somehow implying that this is good news? :eek2:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Another fascinating study in how children lie to appear cool and mature.

    The world will keep turning, the kids will keep saying that smoking one of their brother's reefers makes them hardened drug users.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No.

    I don't care either way.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    lol, "rampant drug use"? you should be a tabloid writer mate.......kids experiment it's nothing new, i've done a few drugs out of curiousity, ain't done me no harm.......as has been said a million times before, i think you really need to differentiate between drug use and drug abuse........a lot of kids think it's cool to do drugs simply BECAUSE they're illegal, and they want to rebel a bit, you make more rules and you will have exactly the opposite effect........why do you think adolescent drug use is lower in places like amsterdam, where you can walk down the high street and get your hands on pretty much anything you like?.........let me ask you SG, what do you think the government should do?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    More reasons for decriminalisation, regulation and control.

    Dealers don't care about age, so young people are always going to be able to get drugs.

    The law's an ass.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    lol, "rampant drug use"? you should be a tabloid writer mate...
    Tabloid newspapers are read by millions of people every single day. A sensationalist headline is far more likely to get people to read the story. A sensationalist thread title is more likely to get people reading it and posting in it. Maybe it's a little depressing to some, but it's a tactic that works.
    ...why do you think adolescent drug use is lower in places like amsterdam, where you can walk down the high street and get your hands on pretty much anything you like? let me ask you SG, what do you think the government should do?
    Well, if I wanted to get some drugs, I could simply to go a house that's a few minutes walk from me, but that's beside the point. What do I think should be done? Well, I've noticed in my school days that schools themselves tend to ignore what's going on. For example, all my teachers knew who in their classes was using cannabis, but nothing was ever said. I don't remember a single person ever being warned, suspended, or expelled for it. Questions are; (1) how do these drugs get into the schools? (2) why do these teenagers take them?; and (3) how much damage do they do?

    And I readily concede I don't have all the answers. Far from it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    Well, if I wanted to get some drugs, I could simply to go a house that's a few minutes walk from me, but that's beside the point.

    No, you are.

    missthepoint.jpg

    thanks, i've been wanting to use that one for a while now. :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    - 10% of those surveyed smoke at least one cigarette a WEEK.

    That’s a pretty low number. Underage smoking isn’t cool and it’s not to be encouraged but it’s not exactly new and it’s not really a big deal.
    stargalaxy wrote:
    25% said they had been offered cannabis.

    Again that’s pretty low, lower than I’d have thought from my experiences a few yrs ago. Nothing new, not a big deal.
    stargalaxy wrote:
    2% said they had tried other drugs.
    - 4% had taken CLASS A drugs.
    - 6% of 11-year-olds said they had taken drugs in the last year.
    - 33% of 15-year-olds had done the same.

    These numbers are all low, they’re rising and I guess that’s a worry but kids experimenting with cannabis, magic mushrooms and even cocaine was all pretty normal to me a few years ago and at 18 or 19 now everyone I know has turned out OK. There should be more help for those that develop addictions and problems and get really into drugs but I don’t think we need to panic.

    Real serious stuff like heroine and crack are rare among children – while that’s something that does need to be looked at teenagers sharing a bong on a weekend isn’t a big deal.
  • Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    Kermit is right, how many probably boasted and lied?

    25% offered cannabis. How many accepted though?

    Its quite low, but the 11 year olds bit is worrying. Meh. Could be worse. I am off for a joint :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Maybe a bunch of younger teens will overdose taking something then it will actually make it into the tabloid papers.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Its not really news tbh. I have clients at work in their 30's and 40's who started taking drugs at 11 or 12.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    I used drugs whilst in school. I had a bloody good time, and I;m alright.
    SG I'd love it if you had the bottle to try a pill, fuck the legality of it. You don't know what your missing mate.
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Skive wrote:
    I used drugs whilst in school. I had a bloody good time, and I'm alright. SG I'd love it if you had the bottle to try a pill, fuck the legality of it. You don't know what your missing mate.
    Thank you, but no thank you. Let's just say it could take a while to persuade me.
  • Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    stargalaxy wrote:
    Thank you, but no thank you. Let's just say it could take a while to persuade me.

    Buy a bong. Buy weed. Enjoy.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Teh_Gerbil wrote:
    Buy a bong. Buy weed. Enjoy.
    No, thank you. ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    And I readily concede I don't have all the answers. .
    you don't have any answers at all SG cos you realy don't comprehend much about the topic.

    you realy haven't mixed much with the world remember ...

    little has brushed off on you so far in life cos you haven't actualy mixed and brushed much with the world outside your house.

    think up somee answers mate ...and' i'll bet they all go pretty much along the lines of what we have already done for forty years ...which has resulted in this country stock piling everything that is illegal... it now costs as much as a lucky bag did when i was a kid.
    when i was 11 ...theres no way i could even afford a bottle of beer let alone an addiction ... :chin: ...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The things that bugs me school aged peeps using- smoking/drinking/toking etc is that their brains are in in crucial development stages and that some young people aren't protected enough from being taken advantage of in their natural youthfull curiosity. The young person passing a spliff around with their peers in the park, half an hour late for bed doesn't worry me so much as the young person who gets ensnared in a drugs world with older people who may well use them and almost certainly don't have their best interests in mind.

    The above figures don't seem unrealistic though and haven't put me in an imediate 'right we must take action' flap...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have a mate who loves cocaine in social environments. Did 13 lines in less then an hour at new years eve...and that was just while i was at his place, he did way more before i got there and after i left. Couldnt care less really...his money to spend in my opinion. Though his nose has changed in the last 5 years he has been doing it.

    No point to that post, just bored and wanted to say something.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    katralla wrote:
    The things that bugs me school aged peeps using- smoking/drinking/toking etc is that their brains are in in crucial development stages and that some young people aren't protected enough from being taken advantage of in their natural youthfull curiosity. The young person passing a spliff around with their peers in the park, half an hour late for bed doesn't worry me so much as the young person who gets ensnared in a drugs world with older people who may well use them and almost certainly don't have their best interests in mind.

    The above figures don't seem unrealistic though and haven't put me in an imediate 'right we must take action' flap...
    if you believe what you have just posted ...then you realy should be ...''right we must take action' flap' ....kind of frame of mind.
    i'm in a flap about it.
    i am worrying about the children of my family ...aged from three to fourteen.

    what dispicable state of affairs will the three year old face SG ...if we carry on dishing out ten billion quid a year in the uk to ...scum?
    how many guns will be controlling how many areas?

    sounds very 1920's to me.
    death and mayhem.
    i believe the people ...by way of government ...should take control of the situation by putting a stop to crimial elements controlling one of the nations most lucrative pharmacutical industries.

    moraly we can no longer wash our hands of the problem by paying gangsters to control the situation.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    a political complainer,is our s.g......the real world bekons.....step out.....do the do....make the make..........form an opinion based on real life man!,then get back to us.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    DEANO MAC wrote:
    a political complainer,is our s.g......the real world bekons.....step out.....do the do....make the make..........form an opinion based on real life man!,then get back to us.
    Shut up.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    Shut up.
    fuck off!
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    stargalaxy wrote:
    Thank you, but no thank you. Let's just say it could take a while to persuade me.

    If you 'really' were intrested in understanding.... ;)
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Skive wrote:
    If you 'really' were intrested in understanding.... ;)
    Slightly tempted, I admit.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    stargalaxy wrote:
    Slightly tempted, I admit.


    Did you watch that ecstasy rising docu?
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Skive wrote:
    Did you watch that ecstasy rising docu?
    No. With all due respect, can you seriously see me taking ecstasy or other drugs? I certainly can't.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    Shut up.

    In between the rows of dots, he does have a point.

    Having little experience in life isn't something to blame anyone for, but in light of this you should have a think about the thoughts and opinions of those who have had more wordly experience.

    I'm not saying that you should be taking every substance under the sun (or indeed any at all), or anything else you don't agree with.
    But you should try and gain a view of the world outside of whatever newspapers you read.
    I probably used to have similarly simplistic views when I was a good few years younger.

    This sounds awfully patronising, and I suppose it is, but hopefully going away to uni will provide you with some alternate perspectives.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    This sounds awfully patronising, and I suppose it is, but hopefully going away to uni will provide you with some alternate perspectives.
    We can but hope.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    stargalaxy wrote:
    No. With all due respect, can you seriously see me taking ecstasy or other drugs? I certainly can't.

    It doesn't matter.

    Ecstasy Rising is a seriously good introduction to the ecstasy debate, whether you're a user or not. Watch it.
    Weekender Offender 
Sign In or Register to comment.