Drug use among young people between 14 and 18 years of age continues to worry the Spanish Ministry of Health, according to the ESTUDES survey, alcohol is the main substance consumed by this group, specifically 70.5% of those surveyed acknowledge having ingested it in the last year, followed by 30.7% who declared that they smoked tobacco, 22.2% cannabis and 7.2% who ingested hypnosedatives without a prescription.
The rest of the drugs are less common, although they do not lose importance for that, for example, 2.1% of the young people surveyed acknowledge having used cocaine at some time in the last 12 months, 1.8% ecstasy, 1.4% % psychoactive substances, 1.1% methamphetamines, 1% hallucinogens and 0.8% amphetamines.
Men tend to consume more illegal drugs, such as cannabis, cocaine or methamphetamines, however, the trend is completely opposite in the case of drugs of licit trade, that is, with alcohol, tobacco or hypnosedatives, where it is observed that women consume more than men.
Cannabis is the illegal drug most used by young people
Analyzing each substance, in the case of alcohol, consumption has been slightly reduced compared to 2019, 5.4% less. However, it is alarming that 73.9% have tried it at some time, that 53.6% have ingested it in the last month and that the average age of starting this drug is 14 years. In addition, 27.9% acknowledge having binge consumed in the last month, 4.4% less than in 2019, just as drunkenness has been reduced in that time, which corresponds to 23.2% of students compared to 24.3% in 2019.
Regarding tobacco, the second drug most consumed by young people in Spain, it has been consumed by 30.7% of students in the last year, 4.3% less than in 2019. Of that figure, 9% do so daily, 0.8% less than in 2019 and 14.7% less than the data from 1996. In this case, the age at which cigarettes are tried is 14.1%, the same as in 2019.
9 out of 10 students between the ages of 14 and 17 do not believe that they would have any difficulty acquiring alcohol and tobacco if they wanted to, despite the fact that the sale is prohibited to minors
Cannabis continues to be the illegal drug most consumed by young people, 28.6% say they have tried it at some time, 22.3% have smoked it in the last year and 14.9% have done so in the last month. It is striking that no less than 1.6% consume cannabis on a daily basis. “17.8% of students between the ages of 14 and 18 who have used cannabis in the last year present possible problematic use, a higher figure in the historical series (13.3% in 2016)”, they indicate in the document.
Finally, cocaine has shown to follow a downward trend in all time indicators. According to the ESTUDES survey, 2.1% of young people between 14 and 18 years of age consume it, the first time being an average of 15.3% and it is more frequent among men in any of the ages analyzed.
In all these uses there are two key factors, the perception of risk and the perceived availability of the drug. And it is that, alcohol is the substance that is perceived as less dangerous, while since 2008 tobacco is considered more dangerous than cannabis, although it has increased slightly in recent surveys: 88.7% of young people considers that daily cannabis use can cause many or quite a few problems.
The other factor is the perceived availability, 9 out of 10 students between 14 and 17 years old do not believe that they would have any difficulty in acquiring alcohol and tobacco if they wanted to, despite the fact that the sale is prohibited in minors. In the case of illegal drugs, cannabis is perceived as the most available, 61.1% think that it is easy or very easy to obtain it.
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