Alcohol and nicotine use among adolescents in Europe is on the rise, WHO calls for preventive measures
Data Including all three areas, more than one in two 15-year-olds have tried alcohol, while one in five teenagers have recently used e-cigarettes, the UN health agency said. said the United Nations in a call for urgent preventive measures.
“The widespread use of harmful substances among children in many countries in the European Area – and beyond – is a serious threat to public health,” said Dr. Hans Kluge. WHO European Regional Director.
“Because the brain continues to develop well into a person’s mid-20s, adolescents need to be protected from the effects of toxic and dangerous products.”
Alcohol dominates, e-cigarettes follow
Alcohol use remains common among adolescents; 57% of 15-year-olds reported trying it and 37% had drunk it in the last month. About 1 in 10 young people across all age groups HAS been drunk a lot, including being drunk at least twice in his life. This rate increases from 5% at age 13 to 20% at age 15, showing the increasing trend of alcohol abuse among young people.
Electronic cigarettes are also increasingly popular, surpassing traditional cigarettes, with 32% of 15-year-olds trying them and 20% using them in the past 30 days. This compares to 25% of 15-year-olds who have smoked a regular cigarette in their lifetime and 15% who have tried smoking a cigarette in the past month.
Perhaps surprisingly, cannabis use decreased slightlyReport warns: 12% of 15-year-olds surveyed tried it in 2022, compared to 14% in 2018. Early cannabis use can lead to dependence and problematic use patterns later in life.
The report also highlights that while boys have traditionally been more likely to drink and smoke than girls, this trend appears to be changing, with girls equaling or even surpassing boys. in tobacco, alcohol, and e-cigarette use by age 15.
Harmful product placement
WHO experts expressed caution about product placement of all substances in video games, entertainment programs and other content aimed at youth through multimedia platforms, and called for Call for comprehensive preventive measures.
“Today, children are regularly exposed to targeted online marketing of harmful products, while popular culture, such as video games, normalize them.” To protect the health of young people, WHO has worked with countries to protect them from toxic and addictive products that can affect their quality of life for years.
To curb alcohol, nicotine and tobacco use among young people, WHO wants countries to increase taxes, limit product availability and sales locations, and enforce a minimum legal purchase age.
The UN health agency also called for a ban on all flavourings, including menthol, in nicotine and tobacco products, and imposed a blanket ban on advertising on the platforms social and mainstream media.
