Illicit drug-taking among teenagers is no longer about risk-taking, but outright hedonism.
| My whole family smokes marijuana so I used to nick a bit off my mum and my brother. |
Monday morning blues are a thing of the past for todays school children who say they can put their hands on any mood-lifting drug they care for, from hash to heroin. Harder drugs are not as easy to get as dope, you have to tell people you want them in advance, says Julia, 15, But theyre available to anyone who wants them.
Her Westminster classmate, Ahmod, 14, says, You take something half an hour before school so youre up by the time you get there. Then youre sitting looking at your tutor, and youre like ahhh. Youre go into science and see youve got the headteacher and youre like aaah!. Its a laugh. It makes school less boring.
His friend Pete, 16, agrees. I suppose you can have a good time without drugs, but youll have a better one with them.
For these teenagers, drug-taking started at home and in the areas near where they live from the age of 12 and up. My whole family smokes marijuana so I used to nick a bit off my mum and my brother, confesses Ahmod. Pete says, Once you get to a right age of looking 18, going to clubs and pubs, you get offered things everywhere.
But its easier and safer - to score in the playground. Julia says, As you grow up, you start to meet people in school who are dealing. If youre offered a drug by a stranger in the street, plainly most people have the sense to say no. I prefer getting Class A drugs from people I know and can trust at school.
Unwittingly, parents have become partners in their childrens illicit thrill-seeking. I just ask my mum for extra money, admits Ahmod. I tell her I need something, a lot of lies, and she gives it me. Julia says, I get 10 a week for lunch money and 5 pocket money, but somehow I manage to spend more.
However, parents may know more than they let on. They like to think I try and hide it from them and they like to pretend they dont know, muses Julia. Sometimes my mum comes into my room screaming, but she just says dont do it. Its like in school when they tell you not to run in the corridors. You think, well why is it?
These kids also suspect teachers of being complicit with their drug-taking. Ahmod says, I take a Class A when I wake up. After school you have a smoke in the playground. You can smell it around everyone. Im sure the teachers notice but I dont think they want to confront twenty teenagers all standing there holding a joint.
It would take a serious casualty to shock todays teenagers into thinking harder about the risks involved in chasing the next high. Julia says, Itd take a proper scare, for me or a close friend to suffer actual damage through drugs that I thought were fairly harmless, to give me the idea that they arent.
Names have been changed.
About the team
This article was produced by Illy Jankovich, 18, Gemma Wilcox, 18, Shahi Ahmed, 17, and Imran Hamid, 16. It appeared in Local Government Voice Solo.
