Drug-taking habits among school children in Ireland.

STUDIES of the epidemiology of drug-taking can be carried out by two procedures each of which has its advantages and limitations. The first procedure depends upon the clinical diagnosis of drug-taking. In consequence of the accurate clinical diagnosis of the jaundice associated with intravenous administration of the drug (Marks and Chapple, 1967), de Alarcon and Rathod (1968) were able to detect heroin taking in the population in Southern England. The incidence of drugabuse can also be investigated by examining urine samples for specific drugs. Urinary samples have been analyzed for amphetamines among subjects in Remand Homes (Scott and Willcox, 1965; Cockett and Marks, 1969; Lancaster and Rockley, 1970) and these studies have demonstrated the incidence of amphetamine taking in particular populations. These procedures for measuring the epidemiology of drug abuse have the advantage of accurate detection of drug taking provided that the diagnostic methods are sufficiently sensitive to detect the drugs under survey. The second procedure involves assessment of the incidence of drug-taking in selected populations by personal interviews or questionnaires. The incidence of drug taking has been studied by personal interview among school-children in U.SA (Schofield, 1965), among University students (Hindmarch, 1970), in out-patient clinics (Anumonye and McClure, 1970), and in remand prison (d’Orban, 1970). Personal interview and survey of records has been used by Probation Officers in Britain to study the types of drugs taken, and the characteristics of the subjects who took them, among individuals convicted of drug offences (Standing Committee on Drugs, 1969). Backhouse and Pierce-James (1970) used the interview method to study the incidence of drug-taking among boys admitted to a detention centre in Southeast England. Another method is to use questionnaires to study the incidence of drug-taking. Whitehead, Smart and Laforest (1970) employed this method among high school children in Canada particularly in relation to the use of cannabis. These investigators also made observations on the sex-ratios of drug-takers and the epidemiology of drug-taking among their subjects (Smart, Laforest and Whitehead, 1970; Whitehead, 1970). In all the studies in which the second procedure has been used, the reported figures for the incidence of drug-taking are probably under-estimates of the actual figures. Against this limitation in relation to the accuracy of the results must be contrasted the fact that larger populations can generally be studied in more detail than when clinical or chemical diagnostic procedures are employed for measuring the epidemiology of drug abuse. Drug-taking had not been investigated by questionnaire or interview procedures among the general population of children aged 14-16 years in Great Britain (Backhouse and Pierce-James, 1970) until Wright (1970) reported the first study on school children in Wolverhampton. However, drug abuse was investigated among Irish school children in the Spring of 1970 by questionnaire (Nevin et al, 1971), and Wilson (1971a) has compared the incidence of amphetamine-taking among boys in custodial institutions in Ireland during the period 1969-1970