Alcohol misuse: tackling the UK epidemic - London

14
Smoking, drinking and drug use
Adolescents and smoking, drinking and drug use
The use of addictive substances by adolescents is an issue of great concern. This section reviews the
prevalence of smoking, drinking and drug use and examines which adolescents are most likely to be
involved with these behaviours. Interventions are examined and their effectiveness is assessed.
Smoking
A succession of studies affirm the causal connection between smoking and increased morbidity and
mortality, the diseases concerned including many cancers, chronic obstructive airways disease, coronary
heart disease and stroke. 6
Although the major impact of smoking occurs later in life, even after a relatively
short smoking career young smokers have poorer respiratory health. 63
Most smokers begin in adolescence
and the younger someone starts, the less likely they are to give up. Early initial use of tobacco also greatly
increases the risk of lung cancer. 64
A recent report by the Schools Health Education Unit, examining trends between 1983 and 2001 in young
people’s attitudes to smoking, found that in 2001 adolescents were more likely than in previous years to
‘experiment’ with smoking. Around 40 per cent of 12 to 13 year olds and around 60 per cent of 14 to 15
year olds had tried a cigarette. 65
Adolescent girls are more likely to be regular smokers than boys. The national survey of 11 to 15 year olds
Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England 2002, found that 11 per cent of girls smoked
regularly (usually at least one cigarette a week) compared with 9 per cent of boys. 66
There is a sharp increase in smoking prevalence as adolescence unfolds. One per cent of 11 year olds in
England smoke regularly compared with 23 per cent of 15 year olds. 66
Among 16 to 24 year olds prevalence
rises to 30 per cent among men and 26 per cent among women. 67
The figure is higher still in Scotland
where self-reported cigarette smoking among 16 to 24 year old men is 37 per cent. 24
Statistics for the prevalence of adolescent smoking across the various parts of the UK are not strictly
comparable but prevalence figures are very similar. For example, the survey Smoking, drinking and drug use
among young people in Scotland in 2000 shows that 10 per cent of 12 to 15 year olds smoked at least one
cigarette a week. As with England, there was a gender difference (13% of girls and 8% of boys smoking
every week) and an age difference (2% of 12 year olds and 19% of 15 year olds being regular smokers). 68
The prevalence figures for smoking among 15 to 16 year olds are the easiest to compare across the UK. In
England 23 per cent of 15 year olds smoked at least one cigarette a week (2002) 66
while in Scotland this
figure is 19 per cent (2000) 68
and in Wales 25 per cent (2000). 13
In Northern Ireland 20 per cent of 15 to
16 year olds reported smoking daily and 32 per cent reported smoking in the last 30 days (1999). 69
Drinking
The drinking habits of adolescents arouse considerable concern due to both the prevalence of alcohol
consumption and the amount drunk. Adolescents in the UK have one of the highest European levels of
alcohol use, binge-drinking (consuming more than five drinks in a row) and getting drunk. 70
The survey Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England 2002 found that 24 per cent of 11
to 15 year olds had had an alcoholic drink in the last week: 66
in Scotland the figure for 12 to 15 year olds
was 21 per cent in 2000. 68
In 2000, 55 per cent of Welsh 15 to 16 year olds reported drinking at least once
a week. 13
In 1999, in Northern Ireland, 66 per cent of girls and 70 per cent of boys reported drinking in
the past 30 days. 69
British Medical Association Adolescent health