LONDON (Reuter) Nearly 90 percent of young Britons take illegal drugs like
ecstasy and cannabis when they go out dancing at raves and nightclubs,
according to a report released Wednesday.

The report by the independent drug advice group Release underscored the links
between Britain's thriving dance scene and drugs and showed that night
clubbers were up to three times more likely to have taken drugs than other
people of the same age.

Research was carried out at dance clubs around London and southeast England
and found that 87 percent of the young people most of them teenagers or in
their early 20s were using drugs that evening.

Ecstasy was named as the most popular drug with cannabis being used to wind
down at the end of the evening.

The report was published a day after a seven year old boy died from
gluesniffing the youngest known British victim of solvent abuse.

Christopher Smith was found unconscious in a truck on his gypsy caravan site
home in York, northern England with an open tin of tyre glue nearby.

Official figures show the number of deaths in England caused by sniffing
glues, gases and aerosols rose from 48 in 1994 to 56 in 1995. REUTER