ANKARA (CIHAN) - The official age at which drug and volatile substance abuse begins in Turkey has now dropped as low as 11 years. Users of narcotic drugs have also been reported to be more likely to commit crime.
According to the "Turkey Drug Abuse Profile 2003" Report, prepared by the Head Office Coordination of the Ministry of Health and Treatment Services with the contribution of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNDCP), use of hashish and volatile substances have increased. The research also demonstrates that the increase in drug abuse is closely related to the low cost and greater availability of drugs.
The report which emphasized that the drugs were more common among the street boys pointed that extacy pills and benzodiazep were preferred by women. The age limit for extacy was reported to be 17 while it was 16 for hashish abuse. The drug profile of Turkey in 2003 declared that most of the drug users were between the ages of 15 and 34.
Almost half of the high school students were declared to smoke and drink alcohol according to the report. It was recorded that %4 of the students used volatile substances, %3 used trankilizan, another %3 preferred anabolic steroid and %2 of them took extacy pills. The survey found out that %9 of the boys and %5 of the girls in high school thought of experiencing narcotic drugs.
The health report revealed that the students who use drugs are influenced by their friends and they think that one or two tryout doesn't incuide any risk.