The results of a study that found young children are experimenting with drugs and alcohol aren’t surprising, according to the Family Centre.The charity’s executive director, Martha Dismont, described the abuse as a “rampant problem”.“It’s like a leak that we haven’t fixed,” she said. “We need a solution to get to kids sooner.”The 2012 study was released on Friday by Public Safety Minister Michael Dunkley.A total of 1,106 students aged between nine and 11 from 23 public, two private and five home schools participated in the survey.One-quarter of the children admitted having tried alcohol; 15 percent confessed to experimenting with inhalents.Some of the students admitted they’d tried alcohol by age six, and marijuana by age seven.Ms Dismont said yesterday: “We are finding that the ways in which children have been exposed to drugs have not lessened.“In other words, there are some parents who are paying more attention to what is going on with their children, but other parents are being pulled and distracted due to having to find work or working in more than one job to make ends meet.“Many parents are emotionally drained themselves and find it difficult to give the proper attention to children. This also leads to younger and even younger children not receiving the quality attention necessary to keep them out of harm’s way. So, it is not surprising to hear of younger children being exposed to drug or alcohol use.”She said that the Family Centre would not be able to assist unless they could offer affordable youth programmes and provide parents with a proper safety net should they fall into negative circumstances.“As these conditions persist, parents will find it difficult to focus on positive youth development activities for their children,” she said. “The answer, I believe, is to begin to support parents more so they can focus on the support needed to ensure their children are safe and developing in a positive manner.”