Teenagers are using cannabis less but drinking more

The latest figures from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction’s (EMCDDA) European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs 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 10 had consumed alcohol in the previous month and four out of 10 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 per cent to 42 per cent, between the last survey in 2003 and the most recent in 2007. The centre 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.

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

"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."