YORKSHIRE youngsters are taking more drugs than ever and many are addicted to gambling, alarming figures reveal today.

Six out of 10 young people in the Yorkshire and Humberside region have used cannabis and one in 10 have used the class A drug heroin, according to a survey by Sugar, a magazine for teenage girls.

Meanwhile, a week after Camelot launched its new scratchcard game - TV Dreams - new research has linked scratchcards to compulsive under-age gambling.

A study by lottery regulator Oflot found that five per cent of youngsters under 16 had "a problem" with gambling - two per cent of them associated with scratchcards.

The Methodist Church said the results showed the need for a comprehensive review of British gambling regulation including age limits, advertising policies and the impact of technological change.

It also called for the age limit for playing the National Lottery to be raised from 16 to 18.

Paradoxically, the drugs survey revealed that teenagers are both using drugs more and are more aware of the dangers.

There has been a 12 per cent rise among young people in the perceived danger of drugs since 1996, thanks in part to anti-drugs campaigns.

The survey also found that 36 per cent of teenagers thought cannabis should be de-criminalised. Other findings were:

* 20 per cent have used amphetamines (Speed)

* Ten per cent have used Ecstasy

* 20 per cent have tried solvents

* Ten per cent have used cocaine.

Amazingly, more than half of those questioned believed Ecstasy was more harmful than the class A drugs heroin and crack.

On the gambling front, Camelot was today ordered to crack down on illegal sales of lottery tickets and scratchcards.

Of 10,000 children aged 12-15 interviewed in Oflot's survey, just under half had bought Instants scratchcards illegally and 40 per cent had gambled on the on-line National Lottery game.

The acting director general of lottery regulator Oflot, John Stoker, said the results were very disappointing, showing no reduction in the number of illegal sales since the last research two years ago.

Sales of both on-line tickets and scratchcards are banned to under-16s.

Mr Stoker said: "The suggestion that two per cent of the under-16s surveyed show signs of problem gambling behaviour linked to scratchcards is particularly disturbing."

Camelot spokeswoman Joanna Manning-Cooper said the company believed it had the "most rigorous controls in the lottery industry" on under-age sales.

She said: "In the last 12 months, we have undertaken some tough new measures to tackle the issue of under-age sales and have informed Oflot of a new action plan we are developing in this area."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.