Suffolk College asked students why people feel pressure to take drugs. The 16 to 24-year-olds said: * “There is a lot of pressure on people to do well in society. The standards are higher in education and people feel under pressure from families and peer groups to do well. Younger teenagers often feel they have to take drugs to be part of a social group.”
* “The stresses and strains of life, ie studies, are what pull them in. TV also shows raves where you can see drugs being used.”
* “There is a degree of pressure among young people to take drugs. Some people unfortunately cannot see that if people are real friends they would not pressure you, but accept you for what you are. It can be very hard to resist pressure from friends and ignorance about drugs can make it harder.”
The survey also asked if students had personally felt pressure to take drugs?
* “Everyone at my school did drugs (cannabis) and progressed on to harder drugs after they left. While I was at school and in my first year at college I experimented with cannabis out of sheer curiosity but it never became a habit.”
* “Only once but I kept refusing. It happened at a youth club but I never gave in to them and in the end they gave up and got chucked out. After a bit because I didn’t like it there I stopped going.”
“I have been pressured . . . but my common sense took over and I stopped. ”
