Pubdate: Sun, 11 Sep 2005
Source: Independent on Sunday (UK)
Copyright: Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/208
Author: Sophie Goodchild
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

REVEALED: CHILDREN OF 10 HOOKED ON ECSTASY

Children as young as 10 are becoming hooked on 50p-a-pill ecstasy
tablets in a disturbing new trend fuelled by rock-bottom prices.

Drug action teams are reporting that the drug, once favoured by
clubbers, is now so cheap that schoolchildren are bingeing on as many
as 20 pills at a time.

A shocking survey by Lifeline, a drugs misuse charity, reveals that
ecstasy use has reached an all-time high with more than half the
excluded children seen by its drug workers having used the drug. Its
research shows that this includes a core of problematic users who are
experimenting with the drug before they reach their teens and some are
taking thousands of ecstasy pills a year. The trend is most widespread
in major provincial cities and towns in the North.

Mark Linnell from Lifeline said the charity was now conducting
research on the psychological effects on young people who take the
drug, which has been linked with depression.

"Although the average age is 14, we are seeing children starting at 10
or 12," he said.

Ministers are under increasing pressure to clamp down on drug use,
especially among young people, and have already drawn up a new drugs
Bill, which includes tough measures on possession.

Last week, scientists revealed that the class A drug can cause damage
to the body's immune system. However, some experts have argued that it
does not cause as much harm as cocaine or heroin and have called for
ecstasy to be reclassified as a Class B drug.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin