The UK has third highest teenage cannabis use in OECD. A report by UNICEF into child poverty in 21 industrialised countries found that the UK was third highest in terms of the proportion of 11, 13 and 15 year- olds who said they had taken cannabis in the last 12 months. The percentage of children who had used cannabis was 35 per cent in the UK, compared to 27 per cent in France, 18 per cent in Germany and less than 5 per cent in Sweden and Greece (UNICEF, An Overview of Child Well-Being in Rich Countries, 14 February 2007, Figure 5.2c).

• Increase in Class A drug use. The number of people using Class A drugs in the last year has gone up by a quarter, from 2.7 per cent in 1998 to 3.4 per cent in 2006-07(Home Office, Drug Misuse Declared: Findings from the 2006/07 British Crime Survey, October 2007).
Drug offences increased. Total recorded drugs offences have increased from 135,945 in 1998-99 to 194,502 in 2006-07, an increase of 43 per cent (Home Office, Crime in England and Wales 2006/07, July 2007).

Source: Keith Girling News Blog. 24th January 2008