The use of illegal drugs among some school age students remain a serious concern for local police and drug abuse officials, who say while the average age for Bahamian youngsters to begin using narcotics is 14, children as young as nine have begun drug use.

In fact, according to Drug Abuse Officer Gayle Hamilton, more juveniles were referred to the National Drug Council (NDC) in 2007 when compared to the previous year.

"We saw close to 30 juveniles last year. And that was probably double the number in 2006," Mrs. Hamilton said in an interview with the Bahama Journal Friday.

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