School Pupils’ Smoking, Alcohol and Drug Use All Down: According to new research, the number of secondary school pupils smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol and taking illegal drugs has more than halved over the previous decade. The findings, released by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), suggest that between 2003 and 2013 the number of high school pupils who regularly smoke fell from 9% to 3%, with regular alcohol consumption dropping to less than one in ten (9%) from a quarter in 2003. The number of pupils stating that they had taken illegal drugs has also halved since 2003.{Tweet this}

School Pupils’ Smoking, Alcohol and Drug Use All Down In Decade To 2013

The findings are based on a survey of 5,187 pupils aged 11-15 across 174 schools in England and was undertaken in the Autumn Term of 2013. Ash, the health charity, also suggested that smoking in children in general has fallen to an all-time low.

Although the number of pupils saying that they have taken drugs in the last month has fallen since 2013, in recent years it has stayed relatively stable at around 6%. Perhaps positively, the chief executive of Ash also stated that fears of electronic cigarettes becoming a gateway in to smoking for children have so far proved unfounded. In fact, the research suggests that the number of young people stating that they had tried smoking has actually fallen 42% in 2003 to 22% in 2013 – a reduction of almost a half. Boys and girls were equally as likely to have drunk alcohol.

One in four of the school pupils interviewed stated that they felt it was acceptable to drink alcohol once a week, with only one in twenty saying they felt it was acceptable to smoke cannabis with the same regularity. Cannabis was the drug with the highest acceptance rating among teens. Smoking tobacco once a week was deemed acceptable by around one in eight young people interviewed (12%).

Finally, the report found that students who played truant or who had been excluded were much more likely to have taken drugs (10%) than those who had not (1%). Only one in fifty pupils (2%) reported having taken part in all three of the measured acts – smoked and drunk alcohol in the last week, and taken illegal drugs in the last month. This figure is similar to that reported in previous waves of the survey. {Tweet this}