Fewer than one in 10 Maltese youths have smoked cannabis at least once in their lifetime, the lowest in Europe, according to a recent study.

A Eurobarometer study on young people and drugs, found that 92 per cent of Maltese adolescents had never smoked cannabis.

Asked what future legislation could best control the substance, nearly two-thirds thought cannabis should continue to be banned while the rest felt it should be made available under strict controls.

Twenty per cent thought the government should introduce tougher penalties for marijuana smokers and 17 per cent called for the plant to be made legal.

The Maltese were among the most concerned when it came to the health risks of the drug.

Two-thirds thought it would be very risky to smoke cannabis regularly and a quarter of respondents felt this would pose a medium level of risk.

Smoking a joint once or twice was also potentially harmful, with 17 per cent arguing that this would be very dangerous.

Malta would also seem to be one of the most difficult places to get hold of the drug.

A quarter of Maltese youths said it would be impossible to find any cannabis within 24 hours, the third highest in Europe. Forty per cent said it would be very difficult and one-third replied they would have no problem getting hold of the substance.

Cannabis was not the only drug that proved difficult to get a hold of, for some.

A third of Maltese respondents said they would find it impossible to obtain cocaine, the fifth highest response in Europe.

Not everyone had the same difficulty, however, with a quarter of youths saying they would find it easy to get some cocaine in fewer than 24 hours.

The Maltese people were also the least concerned about the health implications of occasional cocaine use, as well as that of copycat drugs.