Urban young use less alcohol and drugs

Youth at party.Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB scanpix

Young people in the city use less drugs and are a little more sober

Fewer young people use drugs while they are out in the city, and the alcohol level is often slightly lower than before according to a new survey.

The study of substance use has been carried out by the Norwegian Directorate of Public Health among people “on the town” in Oslo and six other cities in Eastern Norway. It shows that nine out of ten were affected by alcohol when they participated in the survey and had an average of about 1.0 per mille.

In addition, one of four had recently used illicit drugs, the most common being cannabis, cocaine, MDMA/ecstasy, amphetamines, and NPS. Four out of ten participants were women and the average age of the sample group was 26 years.

The purpose of the study is to compare drug use in Oslo from 2017 with a corresponding study from 2014 and to investigate whether drug use in Oslo is different than in other cities in Eastern Norway.

The results show that the use of alcohol and drugs in 2017 was still high among young people in Eastern Norway. Just as many had drunk alcohol as in 2014, but fewer had high levels in 2017. The drug use had fallen somewhat, although the use of MDMA/ecstasy had increased.

Øyvind Giæver of the Directorate of Health is concerned that many people mix alcohol and drugs.

“According to this study, about a quarter of those who are in these places have an alcohol level indicating that they should not be served.

This is a call for the industry to take responsibility, and for the municipalities to do so, and for us as health authorities to do so.

Maybe we should talk more together, ” said Giæver to NRK news.


© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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