Drug (毒品) use in Britain has increased by 30% in the last five years. Use of hard drugs, for example, cocaine (可卡因) and crack cocaine, is increasing as a result of these drugs becoming cheaper and easier to buy.
Young people in Britain are more likely than other Europeans to take illegal (非法的) drugs. UK teenagers are taking up to five times more illegal drugs, for example, ecstasy tablets (摇头丸) and cannabis (大麻制品), than in other European countries. The most common drug for UK teenagers is cannabis. Over 35% of 15 to 16-year-olds say they have tried it. Harder drugs such as crack cocaine are less common. As many as one in twelve 12-year-olds have taken drugs.
British law puts drugs into three groups, from the most dangerous Class A drugs to the least addictive (使人上瘾的) Class C drugs:
● Class A: hard drugs, for example, crack cocaine;
● Class B: for example, ecstasy tablets;
● Class C: "soft" drugs, for example, cannabis, which are also addictive and dangerous.
In the UK there are possibly 500,000 Class A drug users. As a result, the UK spends ￡390 million a year on treatment centers to fight drug use. Treatment centers spend more than ￡3,000 to help every drug user. But only 3,800 drug users a year successfully go through the drug treatment.
Teenagers gave the following reasons in order of importance:
● to copy their friends and to look cool;
● so as to have a good time and to feel good;
● in order to see what it is like and to experience something new;
● so as to be like adults, but to be different from their parents;
● because the drugs are cheap and easy to buy;
● because they have nothing better to do with their time.
