CHILDREN AS YOUNG AS NINE HOOKED ON CIGS; NHS hands out nicotine tubes.

Byline: PAUL BYRNE 

CHILDREN as young as nine are being given cigarettes by their parents.

And youngsters are having to use brightlycoloured replacement nicotine inhalers in the playground in a bid to kick their habits.

Health workers in East Lancashire revealed how one nine-year-old boy would become angry if he had not had his nicotine fix and said that some parents gave their children cigarettes as rewards.

Ann Eastwood, the area's NHS young persons' stop smoking co-ordinator, said: "The youngest are usually 11 or 12, but there was a boy whose teacher called the service because he was so addicted he was becoming twitchy and aggressive in lessons because he hadn't had a cigarette.

"They tell us children are not only drinking earlier, but are starting smoking earlier too.

In some instances, parents not only know but actually give them cigarettes as a reward."

She spoke after visiting schools in Blackburn, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley. East Lancs has some of the highest smoking rates in the UK, with 90 per cent of smokers lighting up before they are 25.

Ms Eastwood added: "The schools are very co-operative.

"Most have rules meaning they have to look at exclusion for children smoking in school but they recognise that the inhalators are a good thing."