SOME USING HEROIN AT 12

AUSTRALIAN children as young as 11 are experimenting with drugs.

Among 12-to-15-year-olds who have taken drugs, the average age when
they first used pain-killers -- for recreational rather than medical
reasons -- is 11 years and five months.

An analysis of the 2004 National Drug Strategy Household Survey also
reveals that some children in that age group are first trying
steroids, inhalants, heroin and cocaine -- all before they turn 13.

Most of the teenagers obtained their first cigarette from a friend or
acquaintance, while more than one in five said they had obtained
their first cigarette by theft.

Friends and acquaintances were also the most common suppliers of
illicit drugs. But when it comes to alcohol, almost 60 per cent were
given their first drink by a relative.

The findings are part of an Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare report released yesterday. Overall, 7.6 per cent of 12 to
15-year-olds said they had used an illicit drug. But more than 95 per
cent in that age group had never smoked and almost two-thirds had
never had a full alcoholic drink.

The author of the report, David Batts, said older teenagers engaged
in more drug-taking than those aged 12 to 15. More than 20 per cent
of 16 and 17-year-olds and more than 30 per cent of 18 and
19-year-olds had taken illicit drugs in the preceding 12 months.

"When you compare the 12 to 15-year-olds to the 16 and 17-year-olds
the comparison is most interesting, because 16 and 17-year-olds are
smoking, drinking and trying illicit drugs to a much greater extent
than the 12 to 15-year-olds," he said.

Turning Point Drug and Alcohol Centre director Nick Crofts said the
figures were "a great worry" but had been for some time. "Some people
will start using drugs at a very young age, but they're people who
have all the predictable risk factors ... that decrease the ability
of children to resist drugs," he said.

"It's not about the drug, it's about the social circumstances in
which kids find themselves because normal life is not fulfilling their needs."

Professor Crofts said the underlying social causes needed to be
looked at, rather than just drug use. Better social services needed
to be provided, schools needed to be better resourced to help
teenagers and there needed to be more support for children who came
from broken families, "rather than allowing them to slide into the scrap heap".