A recent World Health Organization study of youth substance use shows that Canadian girls and Scottish boys have the highest rates of cannabis use among 15-year-olds in Europe, Central Asia and Canada, according to data collected in 2022.
Overall, the study shows that cannabis use among teens has declined slightly, with the percentage of 15-year-olds who have ever smoked cannabis falling from 14% in 2018 to 12% in 2022. Among 15-year-olds, 6% reported having used cannabis in the last 30 days.
The research by the World Health Organization (WHO) examined survey data from 280,000 children aged 11, 13 and 15 from 44 countries on three continents about their use of alcohol, cigarettes, e-cigarettes and cannabis, making it the largest study of its kind to date.
25% of 15-Year-Old Canadian Girls Have Smoked Weed
A quarter (25%) of 15-year-old Canadian girls interviewed for the study said they had smoked cannabis at some time in their lives, while 21% of Canadian boys said the same. Scotland took the top spot for cannabis use among 15-year-old boys, with 23% saying they had smoked weed at some point, while 16% of girls the same age said they had done likewise.
The survey data from Scotland included interviews with 4,000 teenagers. Dr. Jo Inchley of the University of Glasgow, who worked as international co-ordinator for the study, said the high ranking of Scottish boys identified by the research is “concerning.”
“We’re not seeing the declines amongst regular users like we do amongst more experimental users,” she told the BBC. “Compared with other countries, we’re still relatively high and 15-year-old boys in Scotland have the highest levels of cannabis use across the study as a whole. That’s concerning. So, even though we’ve seen these decreases, we are still relatively high compared to other countries.”
The study also examined young people’s use of alcohol, which was determined to be the …
Read More
Author: A.J. Herrington / High Times
