A law to prevent the sale of inhalants to people younger than 18 is in the pipeline, Justice Minister Chris Said said this afternoon.
The minister said that although the law will initially only prohibit the sale of lighter fuels, it may eventually be expanded to other inhalants.
Inhalants include glue, nail polish and paint thinner. They cause disorientation and euphoria.
The minister was speaking during the presentation of the 2011 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (Espad) which found that 14 per cent of 15 to 16 year old students in Malta (fifth formers) use inhalants. This is higher than the European average.
The study found that inhalants are the third most widely abused substance in this age group after alcohol and cigarettes.
All fifth form students are interviewed for the Espad survey.
The survey also found that alcohol is consumed by 68 per cent of fifth formers, against the 57 per cent in Europe. However, some progress has been made since the last survey.
For lifetime use (40 times or more) of alcohol went down from 33.3 per cent in 2007 to 29.5 per cent in 2011, that of alcohol with pills from 11 per cent in 2007 to eight per cent in 2011.
Dr Said said that one had to keep in mind, however, that the drinking age in Malta went up from 16 to 17 between the 2007 and 2011 surveys so the discussion on whether it should go up to 18 should continue.
He also noted that it was illegal for alcohol to be sold to people under 16 so the survey also raised questions about enforcement.
The study showed that 54 per cent of respondents purchase alcohol off premises purchase of alcohol and 68 per cent on.
A general decline was also noted in tobacco use, which was still high, with 23 per cent of respondents claiming to have smoked in the last 30 days.
Lifetime tobacco use dropped from 46 per cent in 2007 to 38 per cent in 2011. Another decline was in the lifetime use of illicit drugs (from 15 to 12 per cent) and of cannabis (from 13 to 10 per cent).
It was interesting to note, however, that the drug mephedrone, which has only recently become available in Europe, was, at four per cent, the most widely used stimulant on the list.