{"id":7589,"date":"2011-05-28T18:22:48","date_gmt":"2011-05-28T18:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=7589"},"modified":"2017-10-19T12:52:36","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T12:52:36","slug":"revealed-government-helpline-tells-children-cannabis-is-safer-than-alcohol-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2011\/05\/revealed-government-helpline-tells-children-cannabis-is-safer-than-alcohol-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Revealed: Government helpline tells children ‘cannabis is safer than alcohol’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revealed: Government helpline tells children ‘cannabis is safer than alcohol’<\/span><\/h1>\n

Children calling the Government’s drugs helpline are being told that cannabis is safer than alcohol and that ecstasy will not damage their health, an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0Advisers manning the Frank anti-drug helpline are telling children cannabis is safer than alcohol<\/span><\/p>\n

Advisers manning the \u201cFrank\u201d helpline are informing callers they believed to be children as young as 13 that alcohol is a \u201cmuch more powerful drug than cannabis\u201d and that using the illegal drug recreationally is not harmful because it \u201cdoesn\u2019t get you that high\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Callers are also being told that taking ecstasy will not lead to long-term damage and that if they are in doubt, to \u201cjust take half a pill and if you are handling that OK, you can take the other half.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0They are even being told that they would be able to smoke a cannabis joint, on top of ecstasy, with no ill-effects.<\/span><\/p>\n

The advice, given to reporters who rang the helpline posing as young people, has alarmed anti-drugs campaigners who branded it \u201cscandalous\u201d and \u201cirresponsible.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Health experts have condemned the advice given to children as \u201cfrankly appalling\u201d, \u201cfactually incorrect\u201d and \u201cworryingly cavalier\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

After being presented with the findings, the Government last night said it had launched an immediate investigation into the Frank service, which is funded by three separate departments, and said it would be taking action advisers involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Grayling, the shadow Home Secretary, said: \u201cThe idea that the Government\u2019s helpline should be saying to young people \u201cgo for it\u201d and that cannabis should be class C when it has just been classified by the Government as class B, shows that the Home Office is all over the place in its approach to drugs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Professor Neil McKeganey, professor of drug misuse research, at Glasgow University, said: \u201cHaving read one of the transcripts, it is extraordinary that the Frank counsellor seems more concerned to place cannabis smoking in some kind of comfort zone of acceptable behaviour rather than address the risks of such drug use on the part of a 13-year-old child.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mary Brett, a spokesman for the Talking About Cannabis charity, said: \u201cIt is scandalous. These people are talking to kids, for goodness sake. Taking drugs can trigger all kinds of psychosis in people that have a genetic predisposition to it. Why are they not told that? Medical experts have said time and again that skunk, the newer type of cannabis that many young people are taking, is dangerous.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese children are being told they can choose. But the risky bit of their brains develops before the inhibitory bit of their brain and they take risks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to be told ‘this is not for you\u2019. When they hear fair, reasoned arguments against, they respond. It is obvious they are not hearing them from Frank.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The helpline, established by the Government in 2003 with \u00a33 million funding, was described in a Home Office drugs strategy recently as \u201cthe key channel by which Government communicates the dangers of drugs, including cannabis, to young people\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

But in calls to its helpline, manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week, reporters posing as teenagers were told by different advisers that drug taking was not harmful. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At no point in the conversations did the Frank team try to dissuade the callers from taking drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n

The effects on the body were played down to the extent that one adviser, referring to ecstasy, said: \u201cAt the end of the day I know where you\u2019re coming from \u2013 doing a pill and it felt great.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Another counsellor said that cannabis, a class B drug, should be regarded as class C and that \u201ccannabis doesn\u2019t really get you that high. You know you are always in control\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0A third adviser stated: \u201cnicotine is physically addictive. Cannabis isn\u2019t. You can stop smoking it any time you want.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Alcohol was presented as a much greater danger than illegal drugs, including heroin, more expensive and with many more negative effects. \u00a0\u00a0One adviser told a caller: \u201cThe withdrawals of alcohol are worse than heroin for example; people can die when they become addicted to alcohol and stop suddenly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The reporters were also told that the police \u201cwould not do anything\u201d if they found a young person with cannabis and that if they are caught with pills, they should say they were for their own use to avoid being prosecuted as a dealer.<\/span><\/p>\n

In one call, where the reporter claimed to be the friend of a 13-year-old boy who had started smoking cannabis, the adviser said: \u201cHe won\u2019t get addicted, no. Tell him you spoke to Frank and they told me it\u2019s not as dangerous as alcohol. Tell him they said by using it recreationally, it\u2019s not as bad as alcohol, because that\u2019s the truth in terms of the power of the drug.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He went on to say that if alcohol was illegal, it would be a class A drug, the most harmful category, whereas \u201ccannabis should just be a class C drug\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0Another reporter, posing as a 15-year-old girl who had taken her first ecstasy tablet, asked if it would affect her health in any way.<\/span><\/p>\n

The response was \u201cNah\u201d. He told the caller that he could not say \u201cgo and take Es, you\u2019re absolutely fine\u201d, but that \u201cin terms of taking a pill like that, it\u2019s not going to affect your health\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0He went on to say \u201cobviously you had a really good experience. It\u2019s like most things, if you do it in moderation, you lessen your chances.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA good idea is if you don\u2019t know what it is you are taking, take a half a one and see how you go and if you are handling that OK, you can take the other half.\u201d The adviser was also unsure what classification the Class A drug was.<\/span><\/p>\n

During a discussion where the adviser talked about mixing drugs, the reporter asked if it was safe to have cannabis after taking an ecstasy pill.<\/span><\/p>\n

The adviser said: \u201cAgain, I\u2019m not condoning it but it wouldn\u2019t spin you out like another pill or powder. If you\u2019re asking me if you could have a spliff with it, would it have any major affects, generally speaking, no, although people are individuals so what works for one might not work for another, but generally speaking, no, you\u2019d be able to have spliff with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

An estimated five million people in the UK are users of illegal or street drugs. Health experts are growing increasingly worried about the affects on young people\u2019s mental health. There is also growing evidence that contrary to earlier assumptions, cannabis can be addictive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Varieties of skunk, which contain much higher levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active chemical, are more dangerous than the cannabis used in the 1960s and 1970s but are now widespread and often the choice of young people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr Zerrin Atakan, consultant psychiatrist at the Institute of Psychiatry, said: \u201cAny drug use while the brain is still developing may lead to structural or functional changes. One Australian study has shown that heavy cannabis users show clear structural abnormalities of the brain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnother recent study has also shown that cannabis use before 18 can lead to abnormalities in areas of the brain that control memory, attention, decision-making and language skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, contrary to previously held beliefs, it is now considered that regular users can develop ‘tolerance\u2019 to the drug, one of the main characteristics of addiction. Regular users require higher doses to become ‘stoned\u2019. Some people find it very hard to give it up and become highly anxious if they do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Home Office, drug use among all ages, including young people, has fallen in recent years. The Government, which downgraded cannabis to a grade C drug in 2004, has recently reclassified it to B.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Government spokesman said: \u201cIt is completely unacceptable for a Frank adviser to be giving out wrong, misleading and inaccurate information. We are urgently looking into the matter and will identify the person or persons involved and take action.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrank is an important resource for young people who need help and advice about drugs. It is vital that Frank advisers give out correct and straight forward advice \u2013 we have therefore commissioned a review of the training advisers receive and will act upon it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk<\/a>\u00a0 l8th April 2009<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revealed: Government helpline tells children ‘cannabis is safer than alcohol’ Children calling the Government’s drugs helpline are being told that cannabis is safer than alcohol and that ecstasy will not damage their health, an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found. \u00a0Advisers manning the Frank anti-drug helpline are telling children cannabis is safer than alcohol […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education-sector","category-social-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}