Cannabis Supply and Young People

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have a new paper on cannabis supply and young people.  They say this is a snapshot of “how young people in a large city and rural villages obtain cannabis”.  It is based on interviews with 182 cannabis users aged 11 to 19.

Given they were talking to young people who had used or purchased cannabis in the recent past it’s not that surprising that their first finding is:

Nearly all the young people reported cannabis to be ‘very easy’ or ‘fairly easy’ to get; 79 per cent stated that they could obtain it in under an hour.

They also report that most young people are buying from people they consider to be “good friends”, and where they are involved in selling the drug they don’t consider themselves to be dealers.

Looking at cannabis use in school they find:

Half the young people had taken cannabis into school or college; 43 per cent said they used cannabis while at school or college, but only a minority did so regularly.

And worryingly:

Schools did not appear to be consistent in how they dealt with drug incidents.

It isn’t clear from the paper whether the inconsistency is within schools or between them, but they say that “nearly all the young people who had been caught reported that the incident had not impacted on them”.

This seems to be slightly at odds with their earlier report on heavy cannabis users, which found:

When participants in this study were excluded from school, this was usually on a temporary basis and in questionnaires 13 participants said they had been excluded as a result of their cannabis use. When probed, it became clear that these young people had not usually been excluded from school as a direct result of their cannabis use; rather, their cannabis use had contributed to a range of problematic behaviours that had culminated in exclusion. So, although the young person perceived their cannabis use to be the reason for their exclusion, their cannabis use was indirectly related to their exclusion from school.

The government’s guidance for schools is clear that schools should have a drug policy which should ensure consistency within a school.

Here’s the summary of the chapter on responding to drug incidents from the guidance:

For any drug incident, the utmost priority should be placed on safety, meeting any medical emergencies with first aid and summoning appropriate help (see section 5.2).

Schools should develop a range of responses to drug incidents. Any response should balance the needs of the individual with those of the wider community and should be determined after a full and careful investigation (see sections 5.3 and 5.4).

Clear referral protocols and communication routes should be established between schools and the range of agencies providing support to young people. In making referrals careful attention should be given to issues of confidentiality (see sections 5.4.2 and 4.3).

In any incident involving illegal and other unauthorised drugs schools are advised to involve the pupil’s parents/carers, unless this would jeopardise the pupil’s safety (see section 5.5.1).

Schools should make a full record of every incident (see section 5.7).

Looking at the Drinking, Smoking and Drug Use survey for last year suggest that 96% of schools have a written drug policy.

Filed under: cannabis, research , cannabis supply and young people, Joseph Rowntree Foundation