Teenagers lured by big money to deal in heroin and crack

Teenagers lured by big money to deal in heroin and crack

	Published : Mon, 28 Nov 2005 20:05 By : Paula Demarzio Print this Story

LONDON - Drug dealers are now recruiting children in their early teens to work as drug dealers, a new report by the charity Joseph Rowntree Foundation has claimed. The report adds that dealers need not always be outsiders, who would stand out in a crowd, but are locals who have respectable "family businesses."

The report says that such a scenario means that the police would never be able to solve the drug problem. It calls on local communities to actively participate in wiping out this menace to the society. The report said that drugs like heroin and crack, which are the so-called "hard" drugs, are available round the clock.

"Professionals in another area reported youths as young as 14 working shifts to sell drugs," the report said adding that such dealers who were not addicted to drugs made somewhere around £7,500 in profits each week. However dealers who did use drugs and were addicted to the habit made £450 per week.

"We found that drug dealing was sometimes run by cohesive groups with local family ties and extensive local networks of friends." said Professor Mike Hough, who co-authored the report. "The areas where that happened were very deprived areas. Their strong sense of community helped them cope with deprivation. That provided fertile ground for drug markets to evolve," he added referring to the finding that local communities generally tolerated dealers who had grown up within it.

Another factor was that even though this trade was criminal and illegal, it brought much-needed cash into these deprived areas. The research conducted by King's College in London also said that the role of the police must not be blamed, "While arresting and punishing dealers is an essential part of any strategic response, support from the community and other agencies is essential," stressed Tigger May, a co-author of the report. The research team interviewed 800 residents, 120 police officers and 68 drug dealers before arriving at these conclusions.