8% try drugs before age 13

IRELAND is second behind Britain for first use of cannabis before or by the age of 13, according to a report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

The study shows 8% of Irish schoolchildren sampled the drug before their 13th birthday. Britain had the highest figure, at 13%.

Among 15- to 16-year-old schoolchildren, Ireland had a lifetime cannabis rate of 39%, compared with the EU average of 21%.

Ireland had the highest rate for use of inhalants, at 18%, compared with the EU average at 10%.

The centre published a special study yesterday on drug use among children under 15 years old alongside its annual report.

It said drug use among the very young was confined to a “small minority” and that regular use was rarer still. But it said this group was of particular interest as they were at increased risk of developing drug problems later in life.

“Regular drug use among the under-15s is most often found among a highly problematic group of the population, in whom drug use is combined with other psychological and social disorders.”

The report read: “Child drug users often come from problematic families and socially excluded groups; a negative relationship with school also seems to be associated with a high risk of drug-taking among children.

“Increasing attention is currently being paid to the relation between ADHD, conduct disorders and other psychological disorders and drug use among very young people.”

Dr Jean Long of the Health Research Board said drug use in this age group was rare in Ireland.

“As in Europe, the common drug used is cannabis, followed by inhalants,” she said.

She said the National Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children report, published earlier in the year, found the proportion of boys using cannabis in the previous year fell from 11% in 1998 to 7% in 2006. Girls reporting usage rose from 3.5% to 5%.

Dr Long said that, similar to the EU figure, 1% of all treatment cases were under 15.

She said there were 52 such cases in 2006, of which 40 were 14 years old, 37 were boys, 45 lived outside Dublin and 49 were entering treatment for the first time.

“Two in every five cases used more than one problem drug. The most common additional drug was alcohol, which points again to the link between alcohol and drug use in Ireland.”

She said the number of treatment cases for under-15s had fallen from 74 in 2002 to 52 in 2006. She said adolescent services had been established in Dublin and that another was being set up in the South-East.

The European centre also found there were signs that cannabis use generally was stabilising, and even decreasing. It said there were indications that cannabis was “waning in popularity” among younger age groups, but could not say why.

Dr Long said there was no available evidence in Ireland on this.