Marijuana is the most widely used illegal substance, but growing consumption of 'popper'.

At least 520 thousand high school students, whose ages are between 12 and 18, have used drugs at least once in your life. That figure represents 15.9% of schoolchildren in the country between grades 7th and 11 (one in six) and confirms how consumption became weather is a problem of public health for the country.

The data are contained in the latest report of school population in Colombia in psychoactive substance, published it makes less than a week by the Ministries of Justice and health and reveals that while the consumption of alcohol and tobacco in children and teens fell, that of illegal substances, including cocaine and ecstasy, it is on the sharp rise.

Sample, whose data were gathered at the end of 2016 and just now finished being processed, consulted more than 80 thousand boys who was asked by the knowledge of risks and eventual consumption of substances such as marijuana, cocaine the basuco, ecstasy, heroin, LSD and other hallucinogens, including solvents and glues. 11% of respondents said that consumption was made in the last year, and a 6.1% consumed in the last month.

Another frightening fact of the study is that one in ten children of seventh graders admitted to having used a substance illegal in life, while in grade 11 this was the response of one in five.

Although the drug problem affects all regions, because their levels of prevalence (use at least once in life) exceed 20% is higher in seven alert: are Caldas (27.9%); Antioquia (26.6%); Risaralda (26.1%); Quindío (23.7%); Orinoquia (22%); Bogota (21.5%), and Amazon (20.4%).

As with the entire Colombian population that consumes drugs, marijuana is by far the most widely used illegal substance: who reported having smoked in the last year went from 6.9% in 2011 to 7.8% in the new sample. The average age of entry to this consumption is 14 years, and exposure increases as young people get older.

The survey shows that in general the problem affects men and women equally, but the increase in this last population with respect to the sample taken in the 2011 Yes mark a general growth of statistics.

Throughout the country there are 122 thousand schoolchildren who have used inhalants as 'popper'. And while the national average of consumption of those dangerous substances is 5%, Antioquia and Caldas reported a 14.1% and 12.1%.

In fact, warns the document, in Antioquia, "'popper' has taken possession as the substance of greater use in the past year, with almost two percentage points above the marijuana", and in other regions appears in second place of consumption.

While the growth of the cocaine market is not so marked between the 2011 (2.4%) and 2016 (2.6 percent), the report indicates that this problem increases significantly as it increases the age, from 1.7% among students 12 to 14 years to 4.7% in the Group of 17 at age of 18. 1.6% of students said having used heroin at least once in life.

One of the most worrying data from the study is access to substances, both legal and illegal. 70.2% of the students said that for them it is easy to buy alcohol, despite the fact that the law expressly prohibits the sale to minors.

Marijuana tops the list of the easiest for children, 37.3%; follows the basuco with 12.4%, 12%, the inhalable, with 8.5%, cocaine and ecstasy, with 7%.

Criminal business

Precisely this Tuesday the Prosecutor's Office revealed that you between May 21 and June 8 were captured 276 people in seven departments of the country to sell drugs to children and adolescents in schools, universities and educational institutions surrounding areas. The result of the operations left in evidence how information organizations come to the minors as a potential market.

While the report shows that in recent years there was a decrease in the consumption of alcohol and tobacco among students under 18 years of age, the figures remain alarming. The study of Justice and health portfolios reveals that 7 in 10 children and adolescents have used alcohol at least once in life and nearly four of every 10 have done so at least in the last month.

26.6% of the respondents more small, from 12 to 14 years old, said to have consumed in the last month, while that of the highest rank, 17 to 18 years old, they have drunk in the past month at least 50.5%. In fact, 4 of every 10 children and teenagers who said they have taken in the last month did so every day of the week and 11.8% aged between 3 and 6 times a week.

With regard to tobacco, the proportion of students that unless has tried it once in his life stands at slightly more than 2 per every 10 children and adolescents
surveyed. Although the age of onset of consumption has also moved upward, the study emphasizes which not yet meets the goal put that age at onset over age 14, as today, the average age for alcohol testing is 13.1 years and tobacco in 12.9 years.

Cookies and bags of pineapple

In areas close to schools in neighborhoods Comuneros II, the village II and Eduardo Santos de Cali, organizations of information sold drugs to children and teenagers using as a front stalls of pineapple; in fact, the substances were packed in the same bag of fruit.

This is one of the modus operandi identified by the prosecution as part of a big operation against the sale of drugs in school environments which ended with the capture of 276 people between May 21 and June 8.

The surroundings of 37 schools, 16 universities and 3 non-formal education institutes involved in seven departments of the country.

In nearby alleys, parks and through social networks marketed drug weekly giving million-dollar profits to drug trafficking networks.

According to the prosecution, one of the bands dismantled in Atlantic, 'the Dealer', obtained earnings weekly 72.8 million pesos, which would correspond to about 294 million per month, reaching 3,494 million a year.

This organization also prepared biscuits with "a special recipe that made them more potent" marijuana, said the Prosecutor's Office.