Teenage drug and alcohol use in England
The NHS has released new figures on teenagers receiving treatment for drug abuse. See which drugs affect which age groups and how the numbers being treated have changed over recent years
Treatment for cocaine, heroin and crack use is down for England's teenagers while treatment for cannabis and alcohol is up, according to NHS figures. Photograph: CorbisLast week the NHS's National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse released figures showing how many teenagers are being treated for drug and alcohol problems in England. Used in tandem with the regional statistics we covered in March, they build a picture of how widespread the drugs problem is for today's young people.
While the number of children seeking treatment for heroin and crack has fallen in the past few years, from 1,081 teenagers in 2005/06 (6% of the total being treated) to 657 last year (2%), treatment for cannabis misuse has remained steady; at 55% in 2005/06 and 53% now, it is the most common primary drug. Those primarily being treated for alcohol addiction has risen almost twofold, from 4,886 in 2005/06 (30% of the total) to 8,779 now (37%).
Use of harder drugs is low among under-12s; less than five pre-teens were treated for heroin or cocaine misuse and none were treated for problems relating to amphetamines, crack or ecstasy. Cannabis and alcohol are the most common primary drugs for all age groups, and treatment for hard drugs increases in the older bands.
Check out the table below for the comparative data from the past four years, or download the spreadsheet to see the full data for this year by substance and age group.
Download the data
• DATA: Children in treatment by age and primary substance
• NTA regional data on drug use among the young
• Home Office drug statistics by age, sex, income and race
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Teen drug treatment by substance, 2005-09
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2005-062006-072007-082008-09Heroin & other opiates 881 755 651 547 Amphetamines 332 323 346 229 Cocaine 453 655 806 745 Crack 200 137 155 110 Ecstasy 325 432 438 210 Cannabis 9043 10824 12021 12642 Solvents 210 301 305 284 Alcohol 4886 7039 8589 8799 Other 174 183 241 270 Total
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Comments in chronological order (Total 6 comments)
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I think you'll find tabacco is the most prevalent primary drug for all age groups
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Some math:
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation study found 15% of women now binged on alcohol each week. In men, the figure stood at 23% - a small rise on previous statistics. = 15% + 23% = 38%. 38% / 2 = 19%, so 19% of people binge drink in the UK.
2-5 million people admit to using cannabis "regularly". ((5 - 2)/2)+2 = an average of 3.5 million people. There are 61.4 million people living in Britain. 61.4 / 100% = 0.614 . 3.5 / 0.614 = ~6%.~12,650 people of the ~6% got help for some kind of 'issue' with cannabis.
~8,800 people of the ~19% got help for some kind of 'issue' with alcohol.12,650/6 = ~2,108
8,800/19 = ~4632,108/463 = ~5x the amount of people who admit to taking cannabis "regularly" get help compared to those who "binge drink" on alcohol.
Why could this be? Either:
- Not as many people want to admit to taking an illegal drug regularly and thus there are actually more 'regular' users of cannabis(say 27%).
- If a drug is socially acceptable, people are less likely to confront their 'problems'.
- We don't know what a 'problem' constitutes as.
- Family members and friends who don't smoke cannabis are more likely to encourage regular users of cannabis to get 'help', again, due to legality and socially acceptableness.
- Cannabis users know when they have a problem because they aren't as wasted as people who 'binge drink' on alcohol.
- Cannabis is 5x more harmful than alcohol... LOL!
- Young people can get hold of cannabis easier than alcohol because it's not regulated.
- The math above included adults in the figures too, so could be, well, wrong.And remember...
The legality of cannabis does not have a direct link to usage (see first cannabis usage link). If anything, countries where cannabis is decriminalised have less problems with the drug than countries with harsh penalties. Why do you think America is moving in the right direction? If cannabis was decriminalised/legalised here; there would be fewer problems with adulterants (think moonshine) and teen usage (think gangsters), high thc:cbd ratios (think alcohol content) and the police could focus their attention more on the harder drug users (heroin & crack/coke).
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Dance/House music is clearly on the way out.
The almost doubling of alcohol cases is interesting. You'd think the kids felt like they had no future or something.
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...apologies for the double post.
To summarise:
Despite it's illegality, youths are more likely to view cannabis as a socially acceptable drug (along with alcohol and tobacco) because it's less harmful. They steer away from harder drugs as reflected in the figures.Because of the law, adults encourage teens to get help with cannabis more than they do with alcohol; which is bad. I haven't seen any talk to frank adverts based on alcohol but I've seen several on marijuana.
The best thing to do would be to legalise/decriminalise cannabis, then focus the majority of the education on the harmful effects of alcohol.
... Maybe then would we see adults being more concerned about the actual dangers and a potential increase of youngsters getting help for their actual problems. It could only be beneficial to all.
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Why can't we spread essence of Lord Krishna to Poor and denied people all over the World.People are becoming naxals,dug addicts and terrorists due to lack of proper spiritual guidance.Please do open ashrams in nigeria ,yemen,afghan,iran,iraq ,US,UK .. people need solace and they can get it only in the path shown by shree krishna.
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I would like to see an independent survey of how many people in the UK use Cannabis medicinally. There are millions in America whom have a Doctors note granting them permission to use "skunk" Cannabis, there medical authorities consider Cannabis a very important herb and have recognized it's many medicinal uses. That's why 21 states are supplying herbal Cannabis and in Oregan there is even a Cannabis Collage!!
I cried when I saw Gorden Brown saying "skunk" Cannabis was lethal, I mean, here is a man whom must be aware of what's going on in the states as to there acceptance of Cannabis as a medicine yet he still believes Cannabis is bad?? is he really that stupid?
NO he is not stupid he is a gangster for monopolizing a market. Our Government allow a British company called GW pharmaceuticals to grow and profit from "skunk" Cannabis. How on earth has Gorden Brown got the front to allow this company a license to profit from the exact same thing he criminalizes and demonizes individuals for, how? how has he got away with it for so long?
ORGANICALLY WELL GROWN CANNABIS IS GOOD MEDICINE!!!
CANNABIS YOU BUY ON THE STREET IS RUBBISH DON'T SMOKE IT, IT IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH AS THE DEALERS ARE SPIKING IT WITH GLASS POWDER AND DANGEROUS CHEMICALS.
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Thursday 9 June 2011
Teenage drug and alcohol use in England | News | guardian.co.uk
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