Drugs and Youth Culture

As everyone knows, "Drug use among young people has become a normal part of dance and youth culture... and research [in 1999] revealed that young people attending dance venues considered drug usage as commonplace, with 78% of the 222 respondents stating they had used drugs at some stage..." blah blah blah.
But how true is this really?

I can only speak from my own experiences, as statistics can be warped in any direction to make them say what you want them to.

At my high school, I was aware of heavy alcohol abuse as well as pupils as young as 12 smoking tobacco, and several pupils as young as 14 smoking cannabis and taking other drugs (you try not to enquire too much when it seems that serious), but in year 11, there were only probably 5 or 6 out of 120 who were regularly taking or smoking illegal drugs. I understand that it is likely that a higher proportion of pupils in inner city schools will take drugs then in my little rural school, but as much as 78% of "youths"?

In my current sixth form there appears to be no drug abuse - legal tobacco smoking and drinking, but nothing worse. Knowing a fraction of the year group I couldn't think of more than 2 or three out of 250 who I could imagine EVER taking drugs, let alone those actually taking them.
However, after the party I attended on Friday night I might be able to fully contradict myself. The fancy dress party, which was held at a scout hut for charity, resulted in the evening being cut short, the police being called, and an ambulance taking one girl to stay in hospital overnight. Rumors suggest she tried mixing alcohol and drugs, though I can't say for certain.
It makes me think, if this is what can happen at a charity disco full of 16/17 year olds all attending one of the best sixth forms in the county, then surely nightclubs and other parties of 18/19/20 year olds could potentially be far worse...

However, I myself am not worried. (I know that I don't drink and the only drugs I've ever taken have been Calpol, Paracetamol and other prescribed medication!) But is this cause for concern for the police and the government? Should certain drugs be legalised to cut down their use, and make sure that those using them use them properly and safely?

Who knows? There seems to be little debate going on among the political parties and the media at the present time.

North Korea - 1 nuclear weapon?

It's believed that North Korea tested its Nuclear Weapons last week - which could turn them into a powerful country in the worldwide community. Looks like we'd better all jump inside our Fall Out shelters and say goodbye to the world we know doesn't it? Well first you have to look at the facts and guesses about other countries worldwide.

Recognised nuclear powers (who have signed Non-Proliferation Treaty):
Russia 8'232
USA have 7'068
China 402
France 348
UK 185
Iran (unsure)

Countries outside NPT suspected of weapons:
Israel +-200?
Pakistan +-40?
India +-35?
North Korea +-1?

And a bucket-full of other countries are capable of creating nuclear weapons using existing nuclear reactors (Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Algeria, Egypt, Dem. Rep. of Congo, South Africa, Bangladesh, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Australia).

So we might not need to question the fact that North Korea has tested Nuclear weapons this month (according to US intelligence - i didn't know there was any) but when you look at the stats, is it hard to see that other countries world wide seem to pose a bigger threat?

If the US are behaving as they usually do, then they probably have all of their "battleships" sitting in some bay in South Korea, so if North Korea fire their Nuclear Weapon (singular) on the very important Alaska, then they won't exist for more than two seconds, before the other coutries in the world with nuclear weapons (USA, Russia, UK, France, Israel, China and India) respond. Iran is the only dangerous country, but only appears dangerous due to forceful American opinion.

So, in the wake of WW3, I shouldn't worry too much... the only real threat is George Bush.

Cameron's Speech

Hmmm, how peculiar. I have to say that I enjoyed the Tory leader's speech today, but for a change it isn't because I was severely disagreeing with it.

For once David Cameron's speech seemed to make sense; he spoke about the NHS, stopping crime at its source and same sex ceremonies, while at the same time standing in front of his "Tree".

I haven't seen what anyone else thought about this yet (except Channel 4) however I think he's shown that he can be the Blair of the Tory party. Depending on who becomes Prime Minister over the next year, the Tory's are in with a tradgicly fantastic chance of winning the '09 election - especially if Labour field Gordon Brown or John Reid as their leader.

I would however have to advise him that if he doesn't change his hair style to something less waxed then the swing voters will all go for the bald guy. Did you hear that Sir Campbell? I Said did you hear that Sir Campbell?!? I do apologuise - I believe our friend has fallen asleep. Oh well... at least he isn't drunk.

A Whole New Blog

Wow, my very own blog - always wanted one of those...
But sarcasm aside, blogs can be cool; it just depends on what you talk about.

Not much has happened to me recently except the most obvious big change of moving to a big new school: Notre Dame Sixth Form.

It has to be one of the best changes that's happened in my life, as I've got a good group of friends - some of whom I've carried over from High School, but most of whom I have only met in the last few weeks. This includes my new girlfriend Kate.

Lessons are good too - it makes a big difference when you are learning subjects that you want to do rather than ones that you have to do (except that the evil Cathaholics force us to do RE for an hour a week).

Maths (Mrs Hayes & Mr Eaton) - very tough, but I'm just about keeping up with the rest of the class...

Music (Mr Milne, Mr McKee & Dr Stoppard) - despite getting an A at GCSE with no help from my high school teacher whatsoever, I am finding this quite tough.

German (Miss Clerehugh & Mrs Beckford) - This is going well. I've struggled with my memory and some of the vocab tests we've had, but I'm doing well with my grammer and can make sense more rightly in German than what I do when I am speaking my English best.

Chemistry (Mr Morley and Mrs Alcocer) - Not a lesson I expected to be doing at A-Level, and I'm still considering the drop as 5 subjects is too much. Mr Morley couldn't make his lessons more enjoyable - with setting fire to anything that moves (or doesn't move, in the case of the deoderant can and gas tap!!)

Government & Politics (Mr Little) - Taught by the most important Tory in Norwich South, Politics in fun yet very fast moving. As I have the lessons after school I find it more enjoyable than the other subjects, and it currently looks as though it will only run as a year course. Mr Little is alright for a Conservative, and you can find his blog at http://www.antonylittle.blogspot.com/ - he likes three-legged lesbian dwarves and blueberry muffins, however his dislikes include Save The Badgers Appeal, Margaret Thatchers denial that she is really a man and bearded sandal-wearing LibDems *at this point I will say that at the last general election Mr Little (23%) failed to get as many votes as the LibDem candidate (Andrew Aalders-Dunthorpe (29%) - who only done better due to his hilarious name) so clearly Mr Little isn't up to scratch with his Propaganda.

Oh dear - I seem to have spent most of the blog going off the point and talking about Mr Little... never mind! At least my Oak tree isn't "more of a tree than an Oak tree" (David Cameron).

Thanks, Linden Parker.

Any comments welcome.