Eight year olds starting to use heroin

CHILDREN as young as eight years are starting to use drugs as experts warn of a dangerous trend of younger addicts showing signs of increasingly more violent behaviour.

The Matt Talbot Adolescent Service in Cork said trends showed the onset of drug use for young people had dramatically lowered – from the age of 12 in 2006 to the age of eight this year.

Young people referred to the services, which caters for 14-23 year olds, are increasingly smoking heroin, using prescription drugs and carrying weapons to defend themselves against drug dealers to whom they owed money.