Headline NewsChange of tactics urged in battle against child drug abuseIt’s cool to say no to drugs By Iain Harrison A CHILD suffering from a drugs overdose is rushed to hospital in Scotland on average once every eight days. Our investigation shows at least 224 children under 16 years old were hospitalised in the five years to 2007 suffering a drug-related illness. It also reveals figures have remained almost constant over the same period. Wake-up call Drugs adviser Alistair Ramsay said the figures are a wake-up call to society. Hospitals across the country report dealing with children suffering heroin, solvent and cocaine overdoses as well as mental and behavioural disorders caused by taking dangerous amounts of cannabis, sedatives and hallucinogens. Cases are worst in Greater Glasgow & Clyde (57 cases) but there is also concern in Ayrshire & Arran (47), Lothian (43), Fife (25) and Lanarkshire (20). In the last five years across Scotland there were at least 46 cases in 2002/03, 36 in 2003/04, 50 in 2004/05, 48 in 2005/06 and 44 in 2006/07. “These figures are horrifying,” said Mr Ramsay, who received an MBE for services to drug prevention, and now runs a consultancy group. “The Government has tried all sorts of things in the past to address drug misuse among children but these figures indicate a lot of them haven’t worked. “They need to stop using scare tactics and instead illustrate to young people that a healthy lifestyle without drugs is quite ‘cool’.” Research He points to research from the US which shows teaching children to resist pressure to use drugs can be effective. “I went to New York several years ago to discuss this programme,” he explained. “It was more successful than anything that had been tried elsewhere.” Mr Ramsay continued, “I brought back a range of materials and presented them to the then Scottish Executive but they were ignored. “In Scotland we only seem to have the capacity to scare our children. “The major challenge to the current government is to provide the kind of drug education programme that will meet the needs of the 21st Century.” Labour’s shadow public health minister Dr Richard Simpson was, until last year’s election, deputy justice minister in charge of drug policy. He said the fact the number of children being admitted to hospital suffering drug misuse problems isn’t going down is disappointing. “It shows the Scottish Government must redouble efforts to educate young people and to identify at the earliest possible stage those who are starting to use drugs,” he added. “However, over the last two national surveys of substance misuse in 13 and 15-year-olds, the number reporting any use at any time of any drug has been reducing. Worse “Until the new strategy on information for children and families, brought in by Labour in 2001, all these results had been getting worse. “Moreover, this improvement, though modest and welcome, is against a background of the same children reporting greater availability of drugs.” His Liberal Democrat counterpart Margaret Smith said the figures prove the Scottish Government must focus on early intervention. “We need to identify the children most at risk of dabbling in drugs and developing addictions,” she added. A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said it’s taking action to sharpen up the delivery of substance misuse education in Scotland’s schools. “The focus of our whole education system is now on developing values and attitudes as well as knowledge and understanding,” she added. “Schools have an important role to play in developing young people’s qualities of resilience and adaptability so they are able to make informed choices to enhance their own and their family’s health and wellbeing. “We are also taking action through an expert group to develop more effective substance misuse education in Scottish schools.” |
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