In today’s society young people face challenges that their parents and grandparents never had to face. We may be living in a more affluent society but it seems that being a young person today is not easy. Understanding why this apparent contradiction persists is the first step to helping millennials find their place in society without falling victims of addiction to substance abuse.
A report entitled European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (Espad) published by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction attempts to measure the extent of the problem of substance abuse by students between the age of 15 and 16.
Some of the results are worrying and call for action from all those who have the well-being of young people at heart.
The majority of young Maltese students have experimented with alcohol before the age of 13. It seems that a bigger proportion of both male and female local young people consume alcohol at the age of 13 than in other European countries. It is also worrying that young Maltese students claim that alcohol is more easily available locally than is the case in other countries.
Although less prevalent, some Maltese young students are experimenting with drugs like cannabis and cocaine in greater numbers than is the case in other European countries. The only silver lining in this sobering report is that it seems that the use of cigarettes by students in Malta is decreasing with less than a third of students admitting to having smoked a cigarette.
For decades, parents have fretted about substance abuse among their teenage sons and daughters because of the relatively easy availability of alcohol and drugs. From soft drugs like marijuana some move very easily to harder drugs like cocaine, LSD and other hallucinogens. But the more serious addiction is that of alcohol simply because it is more widespread and often leads to a slow but irreversible deterioration in the quality of life of abusers.
Studies in the western world have identified a number of triggers that are leading many young people to addiction to substance abuse. One such trigger is academic pressure.
It is no secret that many parents pressurise their children to perform well in school to obtain high grades and be able to launch strong careers in a difficult economic climate. Some students even consider it normal to consume so called ‘study drugs’ to improve their academic performance.
Another challenge faced by young people today, especially among girls, is the pressure of the media for people to have a perfect body. Anorexia, bulimia, and binge drinking are some of the very ineffective ways that young people use to deal with this new pressure. The ‘selfie addiction’ may be fuelling an epidemic of young people striving to achieve a body image that is reflective of current warped cultural standards.
Mental health issues are given less importance than they deserve in the debate about substance abuse by young people. One interesting trend is that millennials are increasingly being diagnosed with a range of mental health disorders.
Psychologists see a strong correlation between mental health problems and substance abuse. Self-medication through the use of substance abuse is no solution to this problem.
The Espad report is a clear alarm call about the extent of substance abuse among our young students. All those who have an interest in the well-being of our youth need to urgently come up with solutions to addiction to substance abuse.