Children as young as eight are taking drugs and drinking alcohol in the north Belfast area, a report published on Tuesday has said.

The research is the first community based local study into drug and alcohol abuse and misuse.

Neil Jarman of Radical, the group behind the report, said the problems must be addressed before they become more widespread.

He said confidence had fallen in the work done by statutory bodies, including social services, police and GPs.

What the report shows is that people are very critical of current educational programmes

Neil Jarman Report author

"What the report shows is that people are very critical of current educational programmes being delivered through the schools.

"People want to see a complete revamp of service provision, education and preventative treatments across north Belfast, developed in conjunction with the people in the communities."

A report in January said more than quarter of Northern Ireland school pupils were offered drugs.

Conducted by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, the survey involved a self-completion questionnaire given to more than 6,000 post-primary school children in 62 schools.

It said a fifth of pupils had been offered solvents on at least one occasion and most of those who tried solvents were aged 12 the first time they tried them.

Most of the 28% of pupils offered drugs were offered cannabis, with the majority of the 17% who took drugs aged 14 at the time.