Children are more likely to use drugs than smoke

CHILDREN under 16 are more likely to take drugs than they are to smoke, the latest figures reveal.

A large rise in the number of 11 to 15- year- olds using drugs means a quarter said they have tried them, compared with 19 per cent who had smoked tobacco.

One in ten had taken drugs – including legal highs and laughing gas – in the past month, with boys slightly more likely than girls to have done so.

The percentage of pupils taking drugs has risen sharply in the past two years. In 2014, only 15 per cent admitted to having tried them.

The drugs included legal highs, laughing gas – nitrous oxide, also known as hippy crack – and illegal substances such as cannabis, crack and cocaine. The NHS Digital statistics come from a survey of 12,051 pupils at 177 schools across England, carried out last year.

Officials said the rise in drug taking needed further investigation before they could be sure whether it was a genuine trend. It may be partly explained by the fact that in previous surveys pupils were not asked directly whether they had tried legal highs or laughing gas.

The figures showed that 25 per cent of boys aged 11 to 15 had tried a drug, compared with 24 per cent of girls. Eight per cent had taken cannabis in the previous year, 4 per cent had tried laughing gas, 2 per cent legal highs and 2 per cent Class A drugs, such as crack or cocaine.

Half those who had used drugs had been handed them by a friend, while 26 per cent had bought them from a dealer. Hippy crack – which is inhaled from a balloon – has become increasing popular among celebrities and even Prince Harry was spotted taking it in 2010.

Anastasia de Waal, deputy director of the think-tank Civitas said: ‘Drugs are still a very real problem in this country. These figures starkly reveal the very young age of those affected. Particularly in areas of deprivation... drugs are blighting young people’s lives as well as fuelling crime.’

The survey found that 44 per cent of 11 to 15-year-olds had tried alcohol – 46 per cent of girls and 43 per cent of boys. Of these, 11 per cent of girls and 7 per cent of boys had been drunk in the previous four weeks.

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, said: ‘These findings are very concerning, especially the high numbers of children who report having been drunk recently.

‘It is clear from the data that levels of children’s drinking in the UK remain among the highest in the western world.’