Mystery surrounds a Swansea-based organisation which claims to have gathered evidence that thousands of children are taking hard drugs.

The report by Adolescent Assessment Services received extensive media coverage earlier this month after it claimed it had surveyed 18,000 children at 67 schools and found 11-year-olds were hooked on cocaine and heroin.

The organisation describes itself as a consultancy group specialising in carrying out large-scale lifestyle and attitude surveys among eight to 18-year-olds and claims it works closely with schools, local education authorities and health authorities.

But Welsh National Assembly Health Minister Jane Hutt said: "We haven't heard of them and haven't had any contact with them."

Swansea Council's education and social services department and local health trusts have also had no dealings with the organisation. And Welsh Children's Commissioner Peter Clarke says he has serious concerns about the claims in the AAS report.

He said: "It is worrying because there is a very serious public debate about drugs and children and if this is misinformation, it doesn't help."

An investigation by the local paper The South Wales Evening Post has also cast doubt on the credibility of the director of research with Adolescent Assessment Services, Jeremy Gluck, who is the founder and director of another organisation, Spiritech UK.

Mr Gluck claims on his website to be in contact through Spiritech with a higher being who speaks to him via his computer about the destiny of the human race. He says he is dedicated to exploring the spirituality-technological interface and how we are evolving in cyberspace.

AAS, on its website, claims it has plans to interview 100,000 more children. It also claims to have developed an anonymous tracking system "which allows us to follow individuals over a number of years without anyone ever knowing who they are".

The organisation, which is charging £25 for its report and is planning a 150-delegate £95-a-head conference in Swansea's Dylan Thomas Centre in October, could not be contacted for comment.

Canadian-born Mr Gluck, 42, a part-time IT lecturer at Swansea University, declined to speak directly to reporters but in an e-mail to the Post said. "We cannot divulge the details of the schools surveyed."

Used courtesy of the South Wales Evening Post

See also:

Kids of 11 are trying heroin