You are old enough that pretending all drugs are equally deadly, or that nobody your age has ever tried anything, would just make you stop listening. So this is the accurate version. Some of what you have been told is exaggerated, some of it is understated, and at your age the difference genuinely matters, for you and for your mates. The deal is the same as always: no scare stories, straight facts, and a fair hearing in return.
One fact to start, because it gets buried under the noise: most people your age are not using drugs. It can feel otherwise, especially online, but the national data is consistent. Not using is the majority, by a distance.
| Class | Examples | Possession | Supply |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, ketamine (B/C varies) | Up to 7 years | Up to life |
| B | Cannabis, amphetamine | Up to 5 years | Up to 14 years |
Look at that supply column, because this is the part aimed at your age. Supply does not mean being a proper dealer. Passing a pill to a mate is supply. Sorting people out at a party is supply. Holding and handing out for someone older is supply. And older dealers know exactly how much bigger the supply sentence is, which is precisely why they push that role onto teenagers. When someone asks you to hold or sell, they are not cutting you in on something good. They are moving their risk onto you. That is the same trap as county lines, wearing different clothes.
This is the single most important change since your teachers were your age. The market is now dangerously unpredictable. Vapes sold as THC often contain spice, a synthetic drug with severe, unpredictable effects. Fake pills pressed to look like Xanax, Valium or oxycodone have contained nitazenes, synthetic opioids so strong that one ordinary-looking pill can kill, and they have killed young people right across the UK. The purity of cocaine and ecstasy swings wildly from batch to batch. Here is the honest bottom line: the person selling it usually does not know what is really in it either. Being careful cannot fix not knowing what you have taken. That is the actual risk, and no amount of experience protects against it.
There is a line worth seeing clearly. A young person who uses drugs has a health issue. A young person who has been drawn into holding or selling has been exploited, and is carrying serious criminal risk that belongs to someone else. The people running drug operations target teenagers with the same playbook as county lines: attention, being paid, being trusted, being made to feel part of something, then debt and pressure. Loads of young people in that situation do not feel exploited, because it did not start out feeling like exploitation. If you are ever asked to hold, carry or sell, that is not a promotion and it is not easy money. It is someone offloading their risk onto you, and there is a way out that starts with telling one trusted adult.
If someone becomes unresponsive, is struggling to breathe, is having a fit, or is drowsy and cannot be roused after taking something: call 999 immediately. Put them in the recovery position on their side so they cannot choke. Stay with them. Tell the paramedics honestly what was taken, because they are medics, not police, and they cannot help properly if they are guessing. The thing that kills people at this age is delay, and people delay because they are scared of getting in trouble. So hear this in advance and let it be permission: you will not be arrested for calling an ambulance for your friend. Ringing is always the right call. Always.
1. A 16-year-old starts using at parties, then an older lad asks him to "look after" some pills, then to sell a few. At what exact point did he become exploited, and what should happen to him now?
2. Someone at a festival offers your group pills and says they are "definitely clean, tested and everything". What do you actually know, and what do you not?
Talk to Frank, at talktofrank.com or 0300 123 6600, gives straight facts about every substance with no lecture. Release, at release.org.uk, gives honest legal and harm-reduction information. Childline is confidential on 0800 1111 up to 19, including if the drug worry in your life is about someone at home. And if you have been asked to hold or sell, or you are worried about a mate who has, tell a trusted adult early. That is the move that gets someone out, not the one that gets them in trouble.