High School Drug Use Up Significantly in 7 Years, Study Finds
The share of Estonian 15- to-16-year-olds who have tried illegal substances has significantly increased over the last seven years, a recently published report on the European School Survey and Other Drugs reveals.
In 1995, a total of 7 percent of students in the 15 to 16 age bracket had tried drugs at least once, while last year the figure stood at 32 percent.
In the last five years, however, the share of young drug users has remained more or less stable, up just 2 percent from 30 in 2007, the survey found.
Cannabis remains the most popular drug among Estonian high school students: 24 percent have admitted that they have tried it. The European average is significantly lower – just 8 percent.
The report also pointed out that different kinds of inhalants are becoming increasingly widespread among Estonian youth. While in 2007, these had been tried by 8.7 percent of students, last year 14.6 percent reported having tried them. Again the Estonian figures are significantly higher in this regard than the European average of 6 percent.
The use of other narcotics besides cannabis among Estonian high school students was pegged at 8 percent, 2 percentage points higher than the average in Europe.
Ingrid Teesalu