300 youngsters are lost ‘on margins of society’
Wednesday 1st April 2009, 2:05PM BST.
Guernsey has a worrying number of youngsters who are abusing drugs because they feel they are going nowhere, a new survey has found.
Education has discovered 300 16-25-year-olds who are neither in work, being educated or trained – and it is having a devastating consequence on their lives.
Sixty per cent of them – 180 – admit to using cannabis and there are high percentages who also use legal highs, ‘poppers’ (which give a brief ‘high’) and Ecstasy.
More disturbing, however, is the finding that around 10% of the youngsters regularly use cocaine and/or heroin.
The study by Education looks into the lifestyle of island youth and while the majority are happy, healthy and going off to university or into apprenticeships, one in 25 are so-called Neets – not in education, employment or training.
As a result, the survey found, many are suffering from low self esteem, psychological problems and have no support system of close family or friends.
Education Minister Carol Steere said yesterday: ‘We should not ignore them. They are a vulnerable group that we need to take steps to make sure we engage with.’
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This story and the crisis facing many of our island youth comes as no surprise, yet for too long it has been swept under the carpet – one can only speculate why.
However surveys don’t fix problems and I hope the publicity will be backed up with some strong and positive action both by the States and the community. It is far too simplistic to simply dismiss all these young people as troublemakers and do nothing.
Thank you Guernsey Press for finally making this story public. It is a welcome change from the many “non stories” readers are subjected to.
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The trouble is as soon as kids leave school, at whatever age they choose, thats it. No more help or guidance. There should be a department that helps young people realise their strengths and actually help them get employment so that they dont just sign up on benefits and look at the ads in the job centre.
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It’s no surprise that some of our youngsters are disillusioned, they see lots of rich people driving around in flash cars, complaining about increases in mooring fees etc, when they themselves haven’t got two pennies to scratch their backsides with. Our system of taxation stinks over here, the poor subsidise the rich, which I defy anybody to justify.
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If these youngsters aren’t working or anything, then where the hell are they getting the money for drugs? If they carry on abusing drugs then there is definitely 2 places they will go…prison or 6 feet under.
There is a problem here, thats is a high percentage of these people are not capable of dropping the drugs because it is there only means of escape from their ‘going nowhere’ existence. Some of these people who have resorted to this sadly because they dont know any better because of their upbringing and are therefore not knowing of anything different. Getting off drugs it extremely difficult on your own so guidance is essential and there is help. They need to realise that as they think they are on the road to nowhere, continuing to take drugs will keep them on road which goes very downhill. Guys and girls, get some help and make something of yourselves.
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Education and Sport.
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WOW thirty people on the island are doing cocaine and/or heroin. That’s like 0.04 percent.
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All 14 and 15 year olds should be made to copy the Press report 100 times
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I imagine the 300 figure is only the tip of the iceberg as it omits young people who don’t have a stable place of residence for one reason or another.
GsyGal – I understand Action for Children (NCH) provides some of the help you mention to youngsters in these positions. There’s only so much one organisation can do though, especially with the problem so widespread.
There is definitely a need for more groups to get involved and engage with the youth such as churches, youth groups, sports clubs etc.
We also somehow need to consciously attack and break down the age barriers that have sprung up where older and younger people segregate themselves from each other causing misunderstanding, mistrust and fear.
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>>have no support system of close family or friends<<
Part of the problem being the gradual of erosion of society by the liberal left. Feminists have demonised men and encouraged divorce. state has effectively destroyed the discipline within family, education has been dilluted to the point of irrelevence and the credit culture has given these children to access to everything they want – on demand.
Hardly surprising and as posted elsewhere the majority, thankfully, have come through this war on family relatively unscathed.
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Sadly much of the reason why these youngsters are being left by the wayside is because the same happened to their parents. Hindsight is not much help now, but whilst governments of the last 25/30 years, both here and in the UK, were intent on romancing the Yahoo Brigade, the basic education system became a shambles with discipline and basic common sense being completely lost.
You can’t expect a child or adolescent to have a natural respect for the rest of society..it has to be taught. And if anyone has doubts about this, I suggest they take a walk through the streets of Town late on a Saturday night.
As said by the previous correspondent, education and sport, to which I would add community service and/or cadet training corps schemes.
Guernsey shouldn’t wait to follow where others lead..as a small island it shouldn’t be too difficult for us to set the example.
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Phil,
<>
I couldn’t agree more, this island is only interested in rich people, never mind the rest of us!
These youngsters will probably NEVER afford to buy a house of their own whilst the States keep shafting everyone to keep the finance fat cats happy, who can blame them for seeing no future?
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ANDY and PHIL. Andy is absolutely right, education and sport, especially Soccer. The opportunities are there. Go for it! But if kids don’t want to bother themselves with an education they will not get one. If they don’t want to bother themselves with sport, they will probably not get a rounded character. All they want is a stogie and hand-outs i.e. “I don’t want to work, so everyone else give me a living”. Ever heard of ‘Tough Love’? I saw a young drop out go from being a broke jobless complaining lay-about to becoming a qualified Policeman, all achieved with ‘Tough love’ given by parents and by society alike. Get with it Phil, education, sport, hard work and endeavor is the only way. Oh, and Phil. The poor do not support the better-offs. How can they, the poor are not paying taxes!It’s the better-offs that support the poor by supplying taxes to pay for welfare, health care, food-banks etc.
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I think that it is up to the teenagers themselves to get out there and make an effort when looking for a job/education. i was unemployed for 18months and as a teenager didnt ‘abuse’ any form of drug, i went looking for a job at the job centre and also received alot of useful imformation from the careers service….which 2months after seeing someone at the careers service got me the job i am in now, which as an apprentice isnt great pay but is better then being stuck down the job centre once a week!! so these teenagers should get down the careers service and with the help they give, will in no time at all have the job they need or have been looking for.
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>>These youngsters will probably NEVER afford to buy a house of their own whilst the States keep shafting everyone to keep the finance fat cats happy, who can blame them for seeing no future?<<
We really need to move away from this idea that everyone has a right to the freehold on a house – They don’t; some will rent, some will leave and some will be in social housing and some will be in part ownership.
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Jackie – I agree with the thrust of your statement and the sustained attack on the family cannot be ignored when facing such issues. Neither can the attack on masculinity which has caused an identity crisis among many young men who have been fed contradictory drivel such as “get in touch with your feminine side” (ask my wife what she thinks of that!)
Part of the problem is that when men are assertive they are labelled too aggressive, when they are sensitive they are labelled iffeminate “nancy boys” – they can’t win! True masculinity is both sensitive, caring and compassionate whilst retaining the “old” values of strength, courage, adventure and leadership. One does not need to be compromised to achieve the other.
I would however suggest that the “liberal left” and feminists cannot be held wholly responsible for this problem. Many men have voluntarily abdicated their responsibilities without their help, whether that be as fathers, husbands and role models in favour of the “lad culture” – a selfish, lazy, pleasure centred lifestyle typified by such tripe as “Men Behaving Badly” that encourages men to stay boys rather than stepping up to the mark. The result is a generation of “boys who shave” that chase pleasure and fear commitment, instead of men that take responsibility, enjoy life and are worthy of a woman’s affection.
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I think a lot of you are confusing cause and effect. Drug users can be considered poor because they have these addictions or because they are poor they have turned to these substances. I hardly think seeing rich people makes poor people poorer, or disheartens anyone enough to turn to drugs. The fact is, rich people are so because they work and don’t take drugs and decided to continue school. In my opinion their is no reason not to go to school till you have at least finished your A-levels, that way, if you have completed your education, can’t find a job, become poor and then take drugs you have my full sympathy. But for the most part, it is the yobs that leave school as early as possible and don’t pursue their career and end up in a bad place, a bad place that is their own doing, their is a place for support and guidance for your life, career, future prospects that will be able to help everyone young person, and it is called school, why should the states provide help for people who will not help themselfs? I’m from a poor background, I have gone to school, done my A-levels and done uni, and I am on the straight and narrow. So, what I am saying, being poor doesn’t make you turn to drugs, other people being rich doesn’t make you turn to drugs, leaving school early because you are a lazy layabout makes you turn to drugs.
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Jackie is quite right. It’s all the dozens of liberal leftists in the States who have deliberately refused to employ the hundreds of policemen and customs people we need to stop drugs flooding into the island. But perhaps it’s just as well because we only have one small prison to put the offenders in. And not enough prison warders to staff the extra ones anyway.
Makes your head spin, doesn’t it?
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I’d take this survey with a pinch of salt.
How many of those surveyed would have thought it ‘cool’ to give the impression that they have dabbled in drug taking even though they probably never have?
I don’t deny that a problem exists but I fail to believe that 60% of those surveyed have used cannabis or whatever.
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>>Many men have voluntarily abdicated their responsibilities without their help,<>values of strength, courage, adventure and leadership.<< In the eyes of the weak strength is bullying, courage is reckless, adventure is irresponsible and leadership is corrupt.
The homogenisation of society by the left doesn’t drag the character up, it drags it down to the lowest common denominator. Having all the traits of communism
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What goes around comes around.
Believe it or not there was a time in Guernsey(before the Finance Industry took off) when there were a lot more young people out of work than there are now. There were booze and drug problems too (just different drugs).
Back then all the same arguments were trotted out about the youth being disenfranchised and there not being enough things for young people to do. Nothing has changed.
Back then – as now – some young people chose to get a job (any job) rather than be out of work while others chose to sign-on. You can tell me till you are blue in the face that society is letting our young people down but I firmly beleive that, in a place like Guernsey, you (still) do have the ability to get work if you really want it.
And how does an old fart like me know this? Because, back in the old days, I used to be a bit of a waster myself. I could have got myself a career and followed a “respectable” lifestyle but if I am honest all I was really interested in were girls and having a laugh with my mates (admittedly I conceded defeat and got a career later in life).
Bet you anything you like almost every one of the “300 young people lost on the margins of society” don’t really have to be there.
Destiny is and always was in the hands of the individual.
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Expat 80
Of course the poor pay taxes, there are plenty of people working over here who are comparitively poor. Imagine a single person earning £20k a year, they have no hope whatsoever of getting on the housing ladder unless they inherit money or win the lottery etc, so are forced into paying high rents to wealthy landlords, who themselves are able to claim tax relief on the mortgage that they have used to buy the property. Does that not sound like a subsidy to you?
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Quote Josh: “rich people are so because they work and don’t take drugs and decided to continue school”
Sometimes true Josh however that is too simplistic as you have omitted those who were born into wealthy families or inherited their wealth.
Quote Jackie “We really need to move away from this idea that everyone has a right to the freehold on a house – They don’t; some will rent, some will leave and some will be in social housing and some will be in part ownership.”
I totally agree Jackie – the belief that freehold house ownership is a right is a perception (that incidentally isn’t shared my many other “Western” nations) not a human right. Sadly it is compounded by the cultural belief among many that only those who own property have “made it” in life, which is utter nonsense.
I do believe however that every islander has a right to a “fixed address” whether that be a mansion or a bedroom; rented, owned or provided by the State – I don’t count “sofa surfing” in that category, something that many youth end up doing for various reasons, many outside their direct control.
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Josh
Your post was far too simplistic and demonstrates a lack of life experience. Also, considering your emphasis on higher education, it is rather surprising that you made so many spelling mistakes!
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PHIL, is there not a ‘cut off’ figure where lower income folks after deducting for young children etc do not pay taxes?
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why does the use of drugs = “margins of society”?
I teach at a university and still enjoy a puff – thank @#$% I don’t still live on the rock.
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In the words of Ricky Tomlinson…”disaffected youth my *rse”.
These chavs have every opportunity to do something with their lives but choose, for whatever reason, not to.
This is Guernsey not the back streets of Salford or Mumbai!
What makes me cross about all this is that “we” as a society make excuses for the chavs. I’m afraid it all boils down to ignorance, arrogance and a total lack of respect.
Sorry if dis iz dissin yah!
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Expat 80
There are tax allowances, if that’s what you’re referring to. The current single person’s allowance is £8,700 per year, I stand to be corrected but I don’t believe that additional allowances are in place for dependant children any more.
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Where are these 300 youths getting their money from? Do they receive ‘unemployment benefit’, perhaps if money wasn’t so easy to come by and they had to work for it, they would be lessw inclined to fritter it away?
STOP BENEFITS!
if they want money they must work.
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Really, what has drug taking got to do with it? I bet the same age range in employment take more drugs than this sample simply because they can afford more.
The issue is why they feel they don’t want to contribute to society.
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I left school at 15, started work 3 months later & have been at it ever since. 30 years later I am still at it, but now I almost own my own house & even have a few quid in the bank. The fact is, although I made mistakes along the way, I didn’t get this far by sitting around complaining about life.
And by the way Phil, don’t have a go at Josh for bad spelling, at least he got his backside in gear & got himself an education & a job.
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Jackie,
parties both of the right and left are ultimately authoritarian – they have to be to implement their agenda.
Take a trip in an orthogonal direction and look at what is arguably a great liberal document – the American Declaration of Independance:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
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The other course of action would be to stop social engineering. Accept that kids are kids and go through stages, stop ‘living in fear’ (yawn) and expecting the state ‘to do something’ about it’
It will come as no surprise to you that if society is an entity then of course it’s going to have ‘margins’.
Carol is probably lining up another round of civil servant posts to deal with the ‘problem’. ‘Margin Czar’ or the ‘hoodie working party’.
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What surprises me about this, is that other people seem to be surprised about what I would deem obvious.
Jackie has touched on some of the reasons why this is happening, but to add to her list there are too many more for 1 post but the one I think that is most appropriate is the fact that parents/ teachers are afraid to discipline their own children.
More and more kids are becoming uncontrollable at an early age because they can get away with it and with no stable family background end up as a statistic in this article.
Spare the rod, spoil the child.
Ironic that the PC brigade that brought on these silly rules will now complain that these neets are living off their taxes.
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Perhaps the social security should stop paying these unemployed children (for that is what they are) a substantial amount of money each week – then they would have an incentive to get out of bed in the morning.
The unemployed are still a very tiny minority – the unemployable are a small percentage of this.
Give these youngsters some support (I agree with the consensus above that a lot of these kids come from unsupported backgrounds).
They need to believe in themselves and to gain some self respect, and we as a society are not helping them by giving them vast amounts of money to doss around doing nothing.
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PHIL, thanks for your feedback. I guess I was wrong and the poor do pay taxes in Guernsey as 8,700 pounds per annum does not sound a lot to live on. Having said that, I live with the dollar and have no accurate way to compare pounds with dollars other than at todays exchange rate a pound is worth 1.8 dollars and one cannot purchase much with that. Perhaps you could tell me how much a bag of fish and chips and a pint costs in Guernsey these days, or more importantly what a one or two bed flat would rent for ( if available)today to enable me to make a more accurate assessment of comparative living costs. Thanks.
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Expat80
Firstly, which dollar are you referring to? The exchange rate you’ve quoted isn’t accurate for the US, Australian or New Zealand Dollar, are you sure you’ve got it right?
A bag of fish and chips is £5.00, a 1 or 2 bed flat can cost anything from about £700 for a grotty example to £1,500 or more for a swanky pad, both those figures are for local market properties. I pay £1,250 a month for a 2 bed flat with parking, small garden, nice enough but not luxurious. A pint in a pub is around the £3.00 mark, sometimes more in hotels and wine bar type places. A loaf of bread is nearly £2.00 and a litre of milk is almost £1.00, so as you can see it’s not the cheapest place to live!!
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Expat 80. Fish and Chips is about £3.50. I haven’t got a clue how much a pint of beer is as i don’t go to pubs. A nice bottle of wine is about £5 (average). A good bottle of wine is about £10 when bought from the shop, obviously much more expensive in a restaurant. A 3 course set meal at lunchtime or early in the evening can be as little as £10.
There is still childrens allowance paid and currently it is about £12.
The problem with social security is that the payments they make to unemployed kids is probably more than they could earn doing a manual or unskilled job – and this is a disincentive to work. Minimum wage should be brought in and unemployment benefit should be given only to those who prove they cannot get a job (and there will be few of them). The majority of these kids smoke and drink and have got themselves into a rut of expecting society to throw money at them and also pay for their accommodation as a lot of these kids are from broken homes and unwanted.
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Merlin
I’d like to know which chippy you go to, fish and chips has been more than £3.50 for many years at Fountain Street and Beeton’s!
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Walk down around any major shopping area in any first world country and what do you see? An overwhelming abundance of teenage workers in almost every shop you go into. Why is this not the case here in Guernsey? Why dont any of the kids work? How can children develop a strong work ethic without actually working? It is no wonder that this attitude is carried over into adulthood. Might be time to open a couple of McDonalds and KFCs?
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>>Why is this not the case here in Guernsey? Why dont any of the kids work?<<
There might be a couple of reasons here Rach. One is that there simply aren’t as many shops and industries as there used to be. Bigger shops, more efficient computerisation, less people needed. I’m not sure but I think there is a minimum age? or at least a retissence by employers to take on youngsters. I’d also add that kids have ‘other things to do’ rather than work; if you get everything for free from your parents and your parents moly-coddle your children, there’s less incentive to work. Work ethic, that that was instilled into me appears to have been gradually undermined by a number of factors. Societal change – not always for the better.
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why is it, that if someone takes drugs they are automaticly deemed to be poor? i come from a wealthy, middle class background and i use drugs quite regularly. believe me or not, but some drugs are not as bad as the media makes them out to be… cannabis is far less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol.
in my opinion, if this survey was conducted throughout the whole of the islands youth, you would find much more 14-21 year olds are using drugs (such as cannabis, leagals and poppers) than you might think. i know people in the private schools, grammar and the CoFE who do drugs every week. they aren’t “on the margins of society” in your opinion are they? so whats the BIG deal here? i can see none.
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I totally agree with aki.I have a friend who’s son had a fantastic job ,great money and future prospects.He started smoking legal highs and poppers and turned into a complete monster at home abusing everyone,aggressive,totally off the rails.Ended up losing his job and his home and now living in the uk probably doing harder drugs now.Its a nightmare for everyone concerned very sad indeed.So its not just the poor that go off the rails,sad to say it could happen to anyone….
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Aki – As if everyone thinks that only the poor take drugs! what drug is making you think that?
The main point of the article is that there are some young adults who are not in work, education and training and it is having a devastating impact on their lives – that is the big deal here. A drug habit will exacerbate the already existing problem as will being from a disadvantaged background. Not everyone has supportive parents who will throw them into rehab or bail them out whenever they stuff up.
When it comes to the harmful effects of drugs, I, like you, dont believe everything that i read in the paper – but the findings of many years of research is hard to deny.
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Yes Merlin which chippy do you use? a fish is £4.50 and chips are at least a £1.00.
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PHIL, MERLIN, thank you for the feedback. Busy right now but when I have a more time I’ll let you know the dollar comparison here for the same ‘foods’. Off hand though, I can tell you they seem to be a lot less than Guernsey. But having said that, we do not have the transport costs for shipping in foods as you folks do which most likely accounts for our lower costs.
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Why is it that when ever unemployed is mention its not long before the drug word pops up or now legal highs?
I smoke cannabis and spice on a regular basis, more so spice since cannabis became harder to get hold of when everybody found out about spice. Now its banned I think it will bring more illegal drugs back on to island. I smoked it every day almost and still managed to hold down a well paid job and iv just got back from travelling around Europe were I had the time of my life, I now find myself unemployed and finding it difficult to find employment. I’m receiving no benefits as my claim was rejected as I left my job voluntary to go travelling. When I left to go travelling I never actually though about what would happen once I got back to Guernsey, I didn’t realise I have a big problem getting a job! I sigh on each week and pick up a copy of the weekly job sheet which is ment to be up dated each week. I have phoned several jobs and have be told they are no longer available and the same jobs keep appearing on the sheet each week and the Guernsey job centre web site I don’t think has never been updated in the two & a half month iv been looking for employment. The Guernsey press webs site gets updated every day, why can’t they do the same, there ment to help people find employment not make it difficult for them not to! I’ve also been into the job centre and asked questions about web sites and other places I can look for employment and just been told to keep looking on there web site!
I really don’t think drugs or legal highs are the problem here and totally disagree with the banning of legal highs because it isn’t going to solve the problem of young people being unemployed!
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