Pubdate: Wed, 20 Dec 2006
Source: Press, The (York, UK)
Copyright: 2006 Newsquest Media Group
Contact:  http://www.yorkpress.co.uk
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3111
Author: Haydn Lewis

GP'S WARNING OVER TEEN DRUG-TAKING

A STARK warning about the dangers of teenagers taking  drugs has been
issued by a York doctor.

York GP Dr David Fair has warned teenagers to resist  the urge to
experiment with drugs after a High Court  battle involving a girl from
the York area who took  ecstasy at school.

The teenager failed in a High Court bid to remove the  stigma of
expulsion from her educational record.

The girl, from the York area, but who can only be named  as E for
legal reasons, was booted out from her school  earlier this year.

She was accused of taking ecstasy, encouraging a friend  to bring
tablets to school and asking other pupils to  pop the pills.

Dr Fair said teenagers were particularly vulnerable to  the side
effects of taking drugs including ecstasy and  cannabis.

He said: "The teenage brain is still in a state of  rapid development
and most drugs interfere with that  process.

"They can cause permanent brain damage in adolescent  years and
ecstasy in extreme cases can cause death.

"These are things that most teenagers aren't aware of  and they think
they are fully developed and their  bodies are able to cope with the
drugs."

The court heard that although E admitted to taking the  drug, she
denied the other two claims, but an  Independent Appeal Panel (IAP)
upheld the decision to  expel her after hearing anonymous evidence
from other  pupils.

E's lawyers argued that she had been put at an unfair  disadvantage
because the evidence had been given in  secret and she had no way of
challenging those who gave  it.

Mrs Justice Black, sitting in London, was also told  that there had
been a failure to give E notice of the  allegations she was facing.

However, after listening to an hour of legal argument,  the judge
dismissed the appeal, observing that E and  her advisers had taken up
an opportunity to put her  case to the panel. The judge accepted that
the  expulsion might be a blot on E's educational record and  could
have an impact on her future schooling. But, as E  is now happy at a
new school, the judge said the  challenge was, in that respect, academic.

The court heard E had responded badly to the ecstasy  after she and a
friend, J, took the drug at school and  teaching staff were told what
they had done.

Later it was alleged that E had encouraged other pupils  to
participate and had asked J to bring in the pills,  but those claims
were hotly disputed.
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