· It was discovered that children of 10 years old were being sold hallucinogenic drugs (LSD. The drugs had pictures of cartoon characters on them to attract the children.
· 49% of young drug-users say they would stop using drugs if they thought they were getting addicted.
· 35% of young drug-users say they do not know why they use them. Most young drug-users say that they listen more to what their friends say about drugs than to what the media say about drugs.
· The number of young males taking drugs is higher than the number of young females.
· The greatest increase in drug use in the past 8 years is by 15-16 years olds.
· Many people argue that smoking kills more people than drugs.
· 9, 75% of British 12-13-year-olds smoke at least one cigarette a week.
· 26, 4% of British 14-15-year-olds smoke at least one cigarette a week.
j) Teenagers kill
This shooting at Columbia School in Denver (USA) was the latest in a string of school attacks that had horrified the USA. Both the criminals and their victims were teenagers. The spate of violence forced America to ask difficult questions about what lead a child to pick up a gun and kill another. On the 16th of April a second-year high school pupil fired two shotgun blasts in a school hallway in Idaho. No one was injured. In May, 15-year-old boy killed two fellow pupils at school in Springfield, Oregon, and then murdered his parents. On the same day, in Washington State, a 15-year-old boy shot himself in the head after taking his girlfriend off the school bus at gunpoint. He shot himself, while 14-year-ild girl was not injured.
Here are some more similar incidents. An 18-year-old boy shot and killed a student in a school parking 3 days before they were to graduate, apparently because they had argued about a girl. A 14-year-old boy opened fire at a graduation dance, killing a teacher and wounding two students and another teacher. A 14-year-old boy shot and killed 3 girls at school, while they took part in a prayer circle. Five others were wounded. A 16-year-old killed his mother, before going to school where he shot 9 students. Six boys, aged between 16 and 18, were charged with conspiracy to commit murder. A study bythe Department of Education found that as many as 10% of US schools suffered serious incidents of violence. The shooting has fuelled the raging debate on gun law in the USA. The right to keep arms is written in the second amendment of the US Constitution. The frightening link between carrying guns and school violence has prompted to question whether this is reasonable.
II. Conclusion
In my opinion, these problems are very actual and important. A child is a unit of society's life. It can be compared to a cage of a human body. If something prevents cages to function normally if influences in general on the whole organism.
I think that the only way to solve the problems should be tolerant and patient. There are very popular sources of information which influence the young people: TV, radio, Internet, newspapers, magazines. It is difficult for young people to decide what is right and what is false. The role of the old people is to help them to find out the proper way.