400 Scots Children Abuse Cannabis - "The Herald"

TOM GORDON, Scottish Political Correspondent
June 28 2006

A CHILD of nine was among almost 400 youngsters treated for cannabis use last year according to new figures, prompting claims that the government is reaping the whirlwind for reclassifying the drug.

Data released to the SNP by the Scottish Executive revealed the number of under-16s seeking help for cannabis has almost trebled in the past five years.

From 127 cases in 2000-01, the problem had grown to 376 by the end of 2004-05.

Until last year, the youngest users of the drug were aged 10 but then a nine-year-old was treated for using it in the Lothian health board area. The most frequent age for treatment was 15, accounting for around half of all cases.

The figures are the latest on drug use by Scottish children to emerge in recent weeks. Earlier this month it emerged that an eight-year-old had undergone rehabilitation in Dumfries and Galloway. The drug which the child was using has not been revealed. This week the United Nations warned some cannabis strains were now as dangerous as heroin or cocaine and could no longer be dismissed as a "soft" drug.

Stewart Stevenson, the SNP deputy justice spokesman, who obtained the data through a parliamentary question, said:

"These figures are of grave concern, especially following the UN report which stated that traffickers have invested heavily in ways of increasing the potency of the drug.

"This should be taken as a wake-up call for all Scots. The blasé attitude held by some towards cannabis use undermines the real dangers associated with drugs.

"We should be sending a clear message to our young people about the dangers of cannabis use; that cannabis does cause harm, and studies are now being published which highlight the long-term mental damage cannabis causes."

Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Tory leader, said the increase in children being treated for cannabis coincided with it being downgraded in 2004.

"Surely this is evidence, if it were needed, that the Labour government's decision to reduce cannabis from a class B to class C drug was a massive mistake.

"She called on ministers to replace their drugs education programme Know the Score with a zero-tolerance approach, using rehabilitated addicts to warn children about abuse.

However, David Liddell, director of the Scottish Drugs Forum, said the higher figures represented more services for children, not an explosion in cannabis use."The higher numbers are in areas where there is provision of specialist services such as Fife, Lothian and Lanarkshire.

There is no evidence that cannabis acts as a gateway to harder drug use – very young people who take any type of drug are almost without exception suffering wider social and emotional problems. The key is to ensure better social, family and emotional support for our most vulnerable young people so they don't become the drug users of tomorrow," he said.

The Scottish Executive said it was clearly disturbing that children were using illegal drugs. A spokesman said drug education was available in every school and a new Know the Score leaflet had been issued specifically on the dangers of cannabis. Investment in rehabilitation places had also been increased 35% since 2001, he said. The data on cannabis treatment emerged alongside a new study which found one baby in eight born at a Glasgow maternity hospital had the drug in their system because their mothers were users during pregnancy.

The survey of 400 deliveries at Glasgow's old Rottenrow hospital was carried out in 2001 but has only now been published. It found 53 newborns with traces of cannabis, 11 with cocaine, and seven with amphetamine.