European Teens Using Marijuana Less but Drinking More

Teenagers across Europe are using marijuana less but are more likely to binge drink, according to latest data from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction’s (EMCDDA) annual report, European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs.

The latest figures found that an increase in binge drinking among girls was a particular concern. Of the 100,000 15- to 16-year-olds surveyed, six out of ten had consumed alcohol in the previous month and four out of ten reported heavy episodic drinking of five drinks or more during the same period.

Among girls, reports of binge drinking during the previous month rose from 35 percent to 42 percent, between the last survey in 2003 and the most recent in 2007. The EMCDDA points out that "while in the 1995 survey this drinking pattern was on average more common among boys than girls, the gap had diminished substantially by 2007.”

The survey also found that cannabis and other illicit drug use as well as cigarette smoking among teenagers had fallen between 2003 and 2007.

"The long-term picture we are now able to draw from these repeated surveys supports other indicators, which point to stabilizing or even falling adolescent cannabis use,” said EMCDDA director Wolfgang Götz.

"Less positively, the report highlights harmful patterns of alcohol use, which call for broad-based health education approaches when addressing the prevention of substance use among young people."
 

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