The younger you are, the less likely you are to view illegal drugs as harmful to health, according to a Statewide survey by the Health Research Board. Sixty-six per cent of 18-year-olds regard all illegal drugs as equally harmful, compared to 80 per cent of 30-year-olds. Forty-five per cent know someone with a drugs problem and 30 per cent have tried cannabis.

Nearly half of 18-year-olds say cannabis is not dangerous when used occasionally and 14 per cent believe that ecstasy is not dangerous when used occasionally. One in three knows someone who smokes cannabis and one-in-four knows someone who has a drug problem.

If you consider that most of the 18-year-olds surveyed are still in or have recently emerged from second level the only conclusion is that they have spent their adolescence in a drug-saturated culture. Social class is no protector. One in four 18-year-olds who have grown up in the professional class know someone with a drugs problem.

The survey is an indictment of drugs education programmes. "That almost 80 per cent of respondents considered all drugs to be equally harmful to one's health suggests a failure to recognise the different pharmacological and other effects associated with different drug types," according to the authors. "Moreover, a substantial proportion of respondents (43.5 per cent) believed that `if you try drugs even once you are hooked', suggesting that many people have unfounded apprehensions about the nature of the addiction process."

While such beliefs may be influential in preventing non-users from becoming involved with drugs, research shows that those who are most likely to experiment with drugs are unlikely to perceive warnings about addiction as credible.