Teens ‘buy drugs because they get too much pocket money’

GIVING teenagers too much pocket money is the ‘root of all evil’ – and is partly to blame for youngsters buying banned prescription drugs, a leading headmaster claims.

Barnaby Lenon, former head of Harrow, warned that many youths buy ‘things that are bad for them’ when they receive too much cash from doting parents.

He referred to the recent spate of British teenagers buying the tranquilliser Xanax online and taking it recreationally – in some cases with tragic consequences.

Youngsters are said to be taking the drug to help them relax and lose their inhibitions. Xanax – the brand name for alprazolam – is highly addictive and banned by the NHS as it is so strong, but is widely available in America and is now being sold to teenagers in the UK by dealers via social media.

In a recent survey of 85,000 people aged 13 to 24 by online magazine Vice, 35 per cent said that they had friends who used Xanax.

Mr Lenon, who is also chairman of the Independent Schools Council, said the anti-anxiety drug is not known to be a problem in the schools he represents, but raised concerns about its use among youngsters in wider society.

He said: ‘Taking Xanax recreationally sounds a terribly bad idea because they’ve got no idea what it’s doing to their brains. It is very dangerous, quite wrong and needs to be stamped out.’

Mr Lenon warned the trend may be partly down to over-indulgent parents giving too much cash.

‘The way to stamp out all these things is for parents to stop giving their children money,’ he said. ‘Almost everything that’s bad for them costs money.

‘So the parents just have to make sure that either they don’t give their children much money or they closely monitor what it’s being spent on.’ He recommended giving children money only when they need ‘something specific’. ‘Be generous in that respect, but do not allow them to sit on a large quantity of money which they can spend on anything they like,’ he added.

‘The root of all evil is teenagers being given too much money.’

According to a report this year by Childwise Monitor, youngsters aged 11 to 16 get pocket money of £16.30 per week on average.

Meanwhile, five- to ten-year-olds who get any weekly income receive £6.40 per week on average.

Mr Lenon said part of the problem with over-funding children may be that some mothers and fathers are desperate to be seen as ‘cool’ by their offspring.

He said ‘doling’ out too much money can encourage any number of unhealthy habits, such as smoking, drinking or illegal drug use.

However, Mr Lenon said that while teenagers might be irresponsible with money they have not earned, those with part-time jobs do not tend to display the same behaviour.

His comments come after Andrew Halls, head of King’s College School in Wimbledon, SouthWest London, warned of a ‘rising tide’ of drug abuse in schools as substances such as Xanax become cheaper than tobacco and easier to get hold of than alcohol.

Earlier this month, an inquest in Brighton found that student Georgia Jackson, 21, flew into a rage and hanged herself after taking Xanax and ketamine.

‘It is the root of all evil’