Pubdate: Thu, 04 Oct 2007
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Telegraph Group Limited
Contact:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/114
Author: Graeme Paton

DRUG DEALERS TARGETING MIDDLE-CLASS PUPILS

A mother whose privately educated son died after becoming addicted to 
drugs warned other middle-class parents that their children could be 
"groomed" by dealers targeting independent schools.

Elizabeth Burton-Phillips, a teacher at an independent school, said 
the drug dealers were selecting "naive" pupils from affluent homes.

She warned that a generation of middle-class children were living in 
"denial" that they were safe from drug pushers and said teachers 
should not bury their "heads in the sand".

In a speech to the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, which 
represents 250 top independent schools, she said many pupils from 
wealthy homes had been "compensated" with money, which some spent on drugs.

"I have worked in the independent sector for 35 years," she said. 
"Large percentages of pupils in the senior schools feel that drugs 
cannot touch them.

"Sometimes, they are sadly not grounded in family life, and are 
compensated by having too much money. The drug dealers are very aware 
of this. As one recovering public school cocaine addict recently said 
to me, 'The drug dealers simply charge us twice the street price.' 
The dealers are far from stupid with middle-class school pupils and 
their families."

She said it was "shocking" that pupils did not know about the 
"sophisticated grooming techniques used by dealers, to help 
unsuspecting, naive, wealthy pupils to progress from the fun, or 
initiation rite, of recreational drugs to a place of despair, decay and death".

Mrs Burton-Phillips, the head of religious education at Godstowe 
Preparatory School, High Wycombe, told how her twin boys, Nick and 
Simon, became addicts.

Aged 13, they started smoking cigarettes at while at an independent 
school. Mrs Elizabeth Burton-Phillips was alerted by school staff 
after it emerged that they had also taken cannabis. After leaving 
school, the boys moved on to ecstasy, crack cocaine and heroin.

Three years ago, Nick, aged 27, hanged himself, while Simon vowed to 
turn his life around.

Mrs Burton-Phillips, who has written a book on her experiences called 
Mum, Can You Lend Me Twenty Quid?, told the conference: "Could it be 
that one of the significant problems that middle-class youth face in 
our independent schools is denial that your school could ever have 
any drug problem or the foolish belief that cannabis is not that serious?"

She called for head teachers to do more to highlight the risk posed 
by drugs, imposing a zero-tolerance approach to substance misuse.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart