It is shocking that UK adolescents are the heaviest drug users and drinkers in Europe but not surprising to me. I put this down to a number of things including these three:- a lack of family boundaries – too many parents are their child’s ‘best friend’, catastrophic for a child who needs a boundary to play brinkmanship against.  I also think that many of the young adults I encounter in my work in schools and with teens at Charter are far too clever for their own good, clever and invincible. There is a distinct lack of humility in this population, so danger is dismissed as irrelevant. And then, and perhaps most significantly, drugs are so accessible in terms of literal access as well as price, with the curiosity of youth, experimentation is inevitable. So alongside every other parent whose child heads into the uncharted waters of their teens, I hold my breath, pray and try to trust my parenting of childhood years that fostered self representation, good communication and a respect for boundaries.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/britain/teenagers_drugs.shtml