A growing number of children and young adults are being admitted to hospital after taking illegal drugs, including more than 1,200 admissions of under-16s last year, figures show.

NHS data for the decade to 2007 reveals a dramatic rise in the number of hospital admissions for people with mental and behavioural problems linked to drug use, as well as for drug poisoning. Admissions of under-16s and those aged 25 to 34 increased by more than half over the period.

Experts said yesterday that the increase was likely to be linked to falls in the price of drugs such as cocaine, heroin and Ecstasy, allowing teenagers to buy them more easily and giving young adults the opportunity to purchase greater quantities.

The figures, from the NHS Information Centre, show that 1,241 under-16s were taken to hospital for drug-related illness in 2006-07, up from 868 in 1996-97. The number of 16 to 24-year-olds receiving hospital treatment increased from 8,518 to 9,657, a rise of 13 per cent over the same period. According to the British Crime Survey, published last October, more than three million people in England aged 16 to 59 admitted having used some kind of illegal drug in the previous year.

Home Office statistics suggest that Class A drug use has remained largely static in recent years, with about a million people taking substances such as heroin, cocaine and Ecstasy in 2006-07. Despite huge efforts to combat the smuggling of drugs into the country, prices have fallen, suggesting that plentiful supplies are still arriving.

Overall, admissions peaked among those aged 25 to 34 and nearly doubled over the decade, from 8,229 cases in 1996-97 to 15,330 in 2006-07. This age group were most likely to suffer drug-related mental and behavioural problems, psychiatrists said.

Ken Checinski, an addictions psychiatrist at St George's Hospital, in Tooting, southwest London, said that the cheaper cost of drugs was contributing to users “bingeing” on various types. Mental problems included psychosis from cannabis or amphetamine use and depression after cocaine use, he said. “Affordability is at an all-time low and, like with alcohol, that just leads people to use more or stronger drugs, whether it is a student using skunk - a form of cannabis that is ten times stronger than the typical joint - or a City worker's cocaine binge.

“The rise in admissions can also be explained by using multiple drugs in greater quantities or purity. All this will have an effect on your health.”

Harry Shapiro, of the charity DrugScope, added: “Overall Class A drug use has stabilised, with the exception of cocaine, which has risen over the past ten years as prices have fallen, and is responsible for increases in hospital admissions for overdoses.”

For the first time, more than one in twenty young people (6.1 per cent) admitted to having used cocaine over the past year, according to the Information Centre's report.

The estimated size of the illegal drug market in 2003-04 was £5.3billion. In 2005-06 the Government spent £1.5 billion on its drugs strategy.Sandra Gidley, the Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman, said: “These alarming figures reveal a wasted generation. How many more lives will be lost before the Government takes effective action? We need better education and more powers to tackle the dealers who profit from this misery.”

The Department of Health said: “The high-quality drug treatment that is being provided is the most effective way of reducing illegal drug misuse, improving the physical and mental health of drug users, as well as reducing the harm they cause to themselves and society.”

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