Pubdate: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 Author: Jim Wilson Source: The Scotsman Website: http://www.scotsman.com Contact: TEENAGERS 'SMOKE CANNABIS MORE THAN TOBACCO' TEENAGERS living in rural Scotland are more likely to smoke cannabis than tobacco, researchers have found. The findings of a survey, conducted by a new drugs agency in Inverness, have emerged days after another report suggested that young people living in rural areas were taking more drugs than those in the inner cities. Last night, anti-drugs campaigners claimed that increasing evidence that illegal drugs are being widely used by young people in rural Scotland should alert parents mistakenly believing that drugs have not reached the countryside. The warning came as Blast, a drugs advice and information centre to be opened in Inverness, prepares to publish the results of a survey designed to establish the drugs history and attitudes of more than 300 teenagers who attended a rave in the Highlands. The project co-ordinator, Natalie Morel, confirmed that the research shows that most young people questioned would be more likely to smoke cannabis than tobacco. "Young people know about the health implications of smoking cigarettes but have not received the same level of information about cannabis and other drugs," she said. The drugs centre will open next month when the research revealing that a range of drugs, including cannabis, ecstasy and amphetamine, are common throughout the Highlands will be published. "The traditional image of drug users living only in the bigger cities and towns no longer bears any resemblance to the reality, if it ever did," Ms Morel said. "The only difference is that young people living in the country find it harder to get reliable information about those drugs. In smaller communities, where everyone knows everyone, young people fear that even asking for information about drugs will gain them an unwanted reputation." A string of remote homes across the region have been exposed as cannabis farms in recent years and, according to Ms Morel, the amount of high-quality amphetamine being produced in isolated makeshift laboratories is the only reason cocaine has not yet gained a foothold in the Highlands. She said that dealers were common in even the smallest villages and, if necessary, young people would often send a representative to bigger towns to buy drugs to be shared. "They will commonly travel to Inverness, but even here there is a fear of being recognised and some will go down to Dundee to get whatever the order is," she said. "People have to forget about this notion that young people living in the country have straw behind their ears and have no idea about drugs." The start of the drugs centre in Inverness, featuring a telephone helpline, comes as Drugs Action, an Aberdeen information and support agency, prepares to recruit an outreach worker to offer support, counselling and advice exclusively to users in rural areas. Increasing rural drug use has also been highlighted in a survey by the Schools Health Education Unit suggesting that more young people living in the countryside take drugs than in the inner cities. Pupils at Scottish schools were questioned, along with teenagers in five English health board regions before the report, Young People and Drugs 1998, concluded that almost a third of 14 and 15-year-olds living in rural areas admitted taking one or more illegal drugs compared to less than 20 per cent in inner-cities. Researcher David Regis, of the respected research unit based at Exeter University, said the results of the survey were surprising. "That particular finding should dispel any remaining belief that drugs are solely an inner-city problem," he said. Research has already suggested young Scots take more drugs than teenagers anywhere else in Europe, while another report revealed they go out more than counterparts in most other countries. Some experts believe drug abuse among younger teenagers living in rural areas is fuelled by the inability to buy alcohol in villages where shop-owners know their identity.