Young girls are increasingly drinking and smoking

The youth have the future and that is why alcohol and tobacco manufacturers do not immediately have to fear bankruptcies. The World Health Organization (WHO) surveyed more than 280,000 young people between 11 and 15 years old from 44 countries about their substance use and has now come up with some quite startling results.

While 8 percent of boys and 5 percent of girls indicate that they have drunk alcohol in the past 30 days, among 15-year-olds this figure is 36 and 38 percent respectively. Three percent of 11-year-old boys smoked a cigarette in the past month, compared to 2 percent of girls. In the group of 15-year-olds, these figures are 18 percent for boys and 21 percent for girls.

The report therefore shows that substance use is still high and that young women are catching up. “Over a longer period of time, rates of substance use are decreasing among boys and we are seeing an increase among girls, although there is an exception for cannabis,” says Hans Kluge, European director of the WHO.

A precise explanation for the increase among girls is not given, but Katleen Peleman of the Flemish Expertise Center for Alcohol and Other Drugs (VAD) says that gender patterns have become less different in recent years. “When it comes to taking risks, pushing boundaries and experimenting with resources, we indeed see that the differences are decreasing.”

Influence of pandemic

It is also striking that the VAD student survey shows that young people drink more often than a few years ago. While 12.8 percent of 15 to 16-year-olds reported regularly consuming alcohol in the 2017-2018 school year, this figure was already 20.2 percent in 2020 and 2021. The World Health Organization is seeing a similar increase in many countries and suggests the pandemic may have played a role in that. During the corona crisis, there were fewer prevention campaigns anyway and the period also had a major impact on the well-being and behavior of young people.

The report points out the high alcohol consumption among young girls in Belgium; later in adolescence, frequent drunkenness among boys and girls is a point of attention. Kluge therefore uses the report to argue for a paradigm shift in dealing with alcohol. “It used to be said that two glasses a day would do no harm, but there is no safe level. For example, the risk of breast cancer increases from the first drop. We need to make people more aware of this.”

Prevention campaigns can make a difference, although more compelling measures can also pay off. In that scenario, action would have to be taken on pricing as well as on accessibility and marketing. A new law drawn up by Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) limits, among other things, the advertising of alcohol, but according to experts, the focus is still too much on preventing abuse. While according to them the emphasis should be on how every drop of alcohol increases the risk of disease.

Kluge is aware that lobby groups spend a lot of time and resources to influence the development of such laws. “We need to reflect on the influence of the industry. Ministers often want to make choices, but there are also economic interests at play. That’s why we need to support them better.”

Anyone who takes the WHO report in hand will see how quickly the tide can turn negatively. For example, fifteen percent of 15-year-old boys and 21 percent of girls of the same age smoked in the past month.

While plans have been drawn up in recent years to achieve a smoke-free generation, the electronic cigarette seems to be throwing a spanner in the works. Almost a quarter of Flemish 15-year-olds smoked a cigarette in the past month. Once again the same argument is heard that young people are better off vaping than smoking because it is ‘healthier’, but Kluge does not understand that. “If you have never smoked and you start vaping, you are introducing an addiction.”

The fact that the vapes are sold in colorful packaging and with all kinds of fruit flavors also lowers the threshold for many young people to experiment with them.

Additional threshold

To protect the next generation from the side effects of substance use, governments can take more decisive action, according to the report. In addition to awareness campaigns, it may be useful, for example, to increase the minimum age for the sale of addictive substances.

In addition, according to the organization, it is wise, for example, to collect a high tax on the sale of alcohol or cigarettes. That is an extra threshold that is installed to get started.

“In certain countries, cancer is now a bigger cause of death than cardiovascular disease. This is largely due to the popularity of these drugs. Chronic diseases can also often be traced to tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diet and a lack of physical activity. These are all things we can do something about,” says Kluge.