CHILDREN should be drilled with a tough message to stay away from drugs to stop them turning into teenage addicts, a leading sociologist has said.

Norman Dennis, visiting fellow at Newcastle University, spoke as a report revealed children as young as 11 have used heroin and cocaine.

North-East drug workers said the figures were worrying.

The survey, carried out by Adolescent Assessment Services on 18,000 pupils at 67 schools, showed that, by the age of 11, 12 out of every thousand boys counted themselves as regular drug users - taking drugs weekly over a period of three months or more.