In Oslo, cocaine use amongst highschool college students doubled in two years

In Oslo, a survey of over 25,000 highschool college students exhibits a big majority doesn’t do medicine. However cocaine use doubled in two years.

A survey in Norway exhibits that the usage of cocaine sharply elevated in just a few years among the many teenage inhabitants in Oslo, Norway’s capital metropolis.

In line with Ung i Oslo 2023 (Younger in Oslo 2023), 8 p.c of higher secondary college college students stated they took cocaine a minimum of as soon as up to now yr. It’s twice as a lot as in 2021 and nearly 3 times as a lot as in 2018, when 3 p.c reported utilizing cocaine up to now yr.

Higher secondary colleges in Norway are much like excessive colleges, with college students often between 16 and 19 years previous.

College students of their final yr of highschool, 17 p.c of boys and eight p.c of women reported that they had taken cocaine up to now 12 months.

Regardless of this sharp improve, the consumptions of alcohol and marijuana stay essentially the most widespread and have remained comparatively secure since 2018.

In 2023, 34 p.c of Oslo highschool college students reported being drunk a minimum of as soon as up to now yr, and 16 p.c smoke cannabis or marijuana a minimum of as soon as up to now yr. Alcohol and marijuana consumption elevated however solely a few proportion factors in two years, though proportion will increase usually tend to be smaller the bigger the inhabitants group is.

“Nonetheless, we take the rise in reporting of cocaine use significantly, emphasised Anders Bakken Anders, the top of the Youth Information Heart on the Norwegian Social Analysis (NOVA) who led the analysis. Cocaine is an addictive and harmful substance, which may improve the danger of significant accidents and accidents.”

The research was performed by the analysis institute NOVA, which has been surveying Oslo youth on behalf of the municipality since 1996. A questionnaire was given to college students of 83 decrease and higher secondary college college students between January and March 2023. It collected over 25,000 self-reported solutions of 13-to-19-year-olds, accounting for a 69 p.c participation charge.

For Willy Pedersen, a professor on the College of Oslo who labored on the analysis, the usage of cocaine is usually related to events. And the Russefeiring (the Russ celebration) is a interval of explicit dangers for cocaine use.

In Norway, the Russefeiring is the celebration interval for the top of highschool earlier than the ultimate time period examination. It lasts almost a month and stops on Could 17, the Norwegian Structure Day, the nation’s nationwide day. Throughout this era, college students dress, have lighthearted challenges and pranks, and make some kinds of enterprise playing cards youngsters like to gather.

However it’s additionally a time of heavy partying. And plenty of purchase or hire a automobile or group sources to get a embellished bus, a “russebuss”, to celebration and drive to events. “We all know that younger individuals on Russ buses are significantly weak,” stated Mr. Pedersen.

Cocaine use related to events and prosperous areas of Oslo

If the younger individuals in Oslo use extra various kinds of medicine than in the remainder of the nation, particularly unlawful medicine, the report notes extra placing variations inside the largest Norwegian metropolis. Younger individuals in Oslo’s most prosperous areas report higher well being, extra bodily exercise, but additionally extra drug use, together with alcohol and cocaine.

The use additionally will increase as college students become old since almost 60 p.c of scholars of their final highschool yr (Vg3) in Oslo report ingesting alcohol a minimum of as soon as a month. In 2023, 38 p.c of boys at Vg3 reported hashish use a minimum of as soon as up to now yr. Nonetheless, most highschool college students assume hashish ought to stay unlawful in Norway, as solely 37 p.c favored a change, down from 40 p.c in 2021.

Nearly no younger persons are cigarette people who smoke anymore. In 1996, the Younger in Olso survey confirmed that one in 4 smoked cigarettes each day, which now solely accounts for one in fifty youngsters.

As a substitute, the usage of e-cigarettes rapidly elevated. In 2023, 17 p.c of scholars stated they used e-cigarettes often or each day, up from the 5 p.c who reported use in 2021, the primary yr e-cigarettes had been a part of the analysis.

A Norwegian attribute is sniffing tobacco as an alternative of smoking it. Whereas almost no younger individuals used to smell tobacco within the mid-Nineteen Nineties in Norway, 7 p.c of scholars now sniff tobacco, with a minor improve since 2021.

Nonetheless, a overwhelming majority of Oslo college students didn’t report utilizing any medicine. In addition they appear relatively happy with their life. Within the questionnaire, 90 p.c of the scholars answered their life was good.

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