Malta has a gaping hole in its social services system because it lacks any sort of facility to cater for the “worrying new increase” in drug addicts aged as young as 12 or 13 years, experts have warned.

Experts in the field have identified Malta’s biggest substance abuse problem as being the combination of alcohol and cocaine, with the former very often leading to the latter.

This worrying new trend was highlighted by a number of experts invited yesterday to a conference organised by the Swieqi Local Council entitled ‘Can drugs lead to poverty?’

Social worker Anne Marie Attard, who works in primary and secondary schools, said she was experiencing drug abuse at an increasingly younger age.

“I’m seeing 12- and 13-year-old children who are already dependent on drugs. And there is no institution where they can be taken to be treated.

“It’s useless for us to have sessions with them, only for them to return home to a problematic family background where all our work is undone. We need to get these children out of their homes.

“These children don’t go to school. How could they go to school from 8am to 3pm to study Maths, Maltese and English when drugs have consumed and destroyed their minds?”

The rehabilitation centres run by NGOs such as Caritas only cater for and are geared towards adults.

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