Children as young as 12 are sniffing solvents and abusing Class A drugs, according to a survey of school pupils.

The problems are rife throughout Sussex but at their worst in Brighton and Hove, where the number of users was significantly higher than the national average.

The figures, released by school inspection body Ofsted, follow less than a week after a Brighton and Hove City Council report also warned that teenage drinking and drug-taking had risen.

The new Tellus2 survey of school children showed that in the previous month: Four per cent of 12 to 15 year olds in Brighton and Hove and in West Sussex had taken Class A drugs such as heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. In East Sussex the rate was three per cent, which was the national average.

In Brighton and Hove the number of the same age group who had sniffed glue, aerosols or other solvents was double the national average. The city's rate was six per cent. In West Sussex three per cent of those surveyed said they had abused solvents, the same as the national average. In East Sussex two per cent had misused the substances.

Twelve to 15-year-olds in West Sussex were most likely to have taken cannabis. Twelve per cent of those surveyed in the county had taken the drug compared to 11 per cent in Brighton and Hove and nine per cent in East Sussex. Nine per cent was the national average.

Brighton and Hove City Council has pledged to do what it can to tackle the problem and said a key priority was to raise awareness among young people about where they can go for advice.

Councillor Ann Norman, chairwoman of the council's finance sub-committee, said: "Somehow or another teenagers have to be educated that it is not particularly 'cool' to do these things. They have got to be engaged in some other activity so they do not do simply do these things because other people are."

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove City Teaching Primary Care Trust, which is responsible for health in the city, pointed out that despite the number of young people who said they had taken drugs more than three-quarters said they had never touched them.

She said a wide range of schemes were in place to help young people whether they had or had not taken drugs or alcohol and essential training was being given to teachers, social workers, youth workers and health workers.

She said: "There are a small number of young people misusing drugs, but we have a comprehensive package to help unravel why they are misusing substances. We use a screening tool, which identifies whether they are experimentally using drugs or whether they are misusing them."

She added that youth workers were sent to meet young people in their neighbourhoods on weekends and evenings to offer support and give information about activities they could get involved with.

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