THE TELEGRAPH: Children calling the Government's drugs helpline are being told that cannabis is safer than alcohol and that ecstasy will not damage their health, an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found.
Advisers manning the “Frank” helpline are informing callers they believed to be children as young as 13 that alcohol is a “much more powerful drug than cannabis” and that using the illegal drug recreationally is not harmful because it “doesn’t get you that high”.
Callers are also being told that taking ecstasy will not lead to long-term damage and that if they are in doubt, to “just take half a pill and if you are handling that OK, you can take the other half.”
They are even being told that they would be able to smoke a cannabis joint, on top of ecstasy, with no ill-effects.
The advice, given to reporters who rang the helpline posing as young people, has alarmed anti-drugs campaigners who branded it “scandalous” and “irresponsible.”
Health experts have condemned the advice given to children as “frankly appalling”, “factually incorrect” and “worryingly cavalier”. >>> By Julie Henry, David Barrett and Alex Ralph | Saturday, April 18, 2009
