Drugs: not for adults only.

Drugs: Not for adults only

Drug abuse is not a problem for adults only. The lives of tens of thousands of children throughout the world are being wasted by this modern plague, UNICEF reports.

Some children are addicted before they are even born. The babies of heroin and cocaine users suffer the pains of withdrawal, and are often premature, with low birth weight, and sometimes even more severe physical problems, says a recent UNICEF report on drug abuse and children.

Drug abuse is often related to AIDS. A mother infected with the AIDS virus as a result of sharing intravenous needles with virus-carrying drug users risks infecting her unborn child.

Addiction can occur during childhood or adolescence. An epidemic of drug use and trafficking is sweeping primary and secondary schools in many developed countries, the report says. A recent survey shows that about one fifth of high school seniors in the United States have used cocaine, and a quarter have tried amphetamines. Similar statistics can be quoted for almost all European countries.

The problem is even more acute in poorer nations. Marijuana, cocaine, paint thinner and other solvents are commonly used by street children in Latin America, UNICEF reports. Shoemaker's glue is particularly popular among young abandoned children. It is cheap, easily accessible, and big business for the older street dwellers who sell it.

Children are often directly involved in the drug trade. In both opium and cocaine-producing countries, they are a source of cheap labour in the growing and processing of these drugs. They are also frequently used by adult dealers as sales agents and distributors.

Drug use by parents devastates children, who often end up neglected, malnourished, or even physically abused. In East Africa and the Arabian peninsula, the report says, millions of men spend much of their time and income on chewing the addictive khat leaves, "to the detriment of their work and families".

"Drug abuse has become a major threat to the well-being of children throughout the world and continues to increase at an alarming pace in both the industrial and the developing countries", the UNICEF report warns.

The effects of drug abuse on children are so deep that UNICEF Executive Director James P. Grant is considering cooperating with Governments to launch major public education campaigns. Such action, designed to motivate community groups throughout the world to protect their children against drugs, is now on the Fund's agenda.