British criminals involve children in drug trade en masse

The use of children by criminal groups to sell drugs "has become the norm," according to a new report from the Youth Commission.

Commission spokeswoman Anne Longfield said as many as 200,000 children between the ages of 11 and 17 are "vulnerable to serious violence" because of their involvement in the drug trade.

According to Longfield, over the past two years, younger children have been increasingly targeted by criminals. For example, kids as young as 9 or 10 are organizing grassroots trafficking, and 14-year-olds are the leading "operations" at the county level.

"I think there are many, many cases like this. I think it has now become the norm for older elementary school children to be involved in underground operations," Longfield reported.

According to the commission, the economic crisis during the COVID-19 epidemic was the cause of the spike in child crime, but it's now complicated by the cost-of-living crisis and the prospect of austerity in the UK.