ONLY six out of ten Kent schools have a proper policy on drugs and drug abuse, according to a report saying more must be done to protect young people.

County councillors are concerned at the failure of more than 40 per cent of Kent’s 600-plus schools to have a drugs policy in place.

The report, Drug Use and Misuse, follows an investigation by councillors into how effective Kent is in addressing drug abuse.

The investigation took evidence from a range of different groups and experts in the field.

Members of KCC’s cross-party NHS Scrutiny Committee want to see every school have a policy in place by March next year, in line with Government targets.

The recommendation is among 18 made by the committee, which highlighted the failure of schools to do enough as a chief cause for concern.

It concluded: “Schools based drug education and support is vital. Not enough schools in Kent recognise their role in protecting young people from drugs; in 2002 only 59 per cent of schools in Kent had a drugs policy.”

Drug use among the young has grown significantly over the last ten years and there were indications the average age of first-use was getting younger, the report added.

Although councillors stressed that the county’s drug problems were no worse than any other part of the country “the social and economic costs of drug use are huge.”

Based on national figures, the cost of drug use in Kent is estimated at between £90million and £160million a year.

In other findings, councillors criticised the Government’s decision to re-classify cannabis from a class B to a class C drug. They said they accepted the views of police officers that it sent a “confused message that dilutes the strength of the government’s focus on drugs.”

They also warned that organisations trying to help drug addicts were under-funded and often over-stretched.

“Treatment is crucial in the success of the drugs strategy but it is under-resourced…services will need to expand, this will place an increasing strain on facilities and staff,” the report states.

Cllr Dr Tony Robinson (Con), who chaired the inquiry, said: “The sooner we start drugs education the better. The main business of schools is not to deliver drugs education but they do play an important part in providing good advice to children.”