Teenage drinking, smoking and cannabis use are continuing to decline across Europe, according to the latest findings of the European school survey project on alcohol and other drugs (ESPAD). However, a rise in e-cigarette use and non-medical use of pharmaceutical drugs are among the factors that point to ‘a generation in profound transition’, the document states.
The findings – which expand on an ESPAD report from earlier this year – also reveal a ‘sharp increase’ in online gaming, gambling and social media use among teenagers. The transitional trends are ‘most striking among girls, where long-standing gender gaps in substance use appear to be narrowing or even reversing’ say researchers.
The study, which was carried out in collaboration with the European Drugs Agency (EUDA) and the Italian National Research Council, is based on the participation of almost 114,000 15-16-year-olds across 37 European countries in 2024. Cannabis was the most widely used illicit drug overall, with 12 per cent of respondents saying they’d used it at least once in their lifetime. Just under 2.4 per cent of participants reported first using cannabis at age 13 or younger, with the highest rates in Ukraine, Czechia, Iceland and Estonia.
On average, 44 per cent reported having used e-cigarettes at least once, with 16 per cent having tried them at age 13 or younger. Early e-cigarette use was ‘more common among girls than boys in the majority of countries’, the report states. Thirty-three per cent of respondents reported having had their first alcoholic drink at 13 or younger, with 8 per cent saying they’d been drunk at that age.
Among the emerging challenges for policy and practice were prioritising mental health and wellbeing in schools and communities, expanding evidence-based prevention, and urgent action to limit young people’s ‘early exposure to digital risks’ – including stronger measures to prevent underage access to online gambling, the report says.
Meanwhile, the University of Dundee will host Scotland’s first national testing and research lab for drug checking, the Scottish Government has announced. A proposal for a drug-checking service in Glasgow has also been approved by the Home Office, with applications for services in other locations either already submitted or being prepared.
‘The University of Dundee has a strong reputation for forensic science and reaching this agreement, along with the licence approval for the first drug-checking site, are vital steps in our national mission on drugs,’ said drug and alcohol policy minister Maree Todd. ‘It is particularly important in light of the current dangers posed by new synthetic opioids like nitazenes which raise the risk of overdose and death. Often people who use drugs are not aware of exactly what they contain.’
ESPAD report 2024 at https://www.espad.org/espad-report-2024