Teens in two minds about the dangers of drugs

The Australian, Clara Pirani, 3 September 2007; The Herald Sun, Grant McArthur, 3 September 2007

 

A national survey of 3800 teenagers and 2000 of their parents has shown that teenagers are well aware of the
dangers of using drugs but believe that they are immune to the risks.

The results showed that 85 percent of surveyed teens agreed that alcohol, tobacco and marijuana were harmful substances. Yet the 12-25-year age group still showed high rates of cannabis, alcohol and tobacco use.

The lead researcher of the survey, Dr Dan Lubman from the Orygen Research Centre at The University of Melbourne,
has found that teenagers are aware of the dangers of substance abuse but honestly believe that harm will befall
others and not themselves.

Dr Lubman further believes that teenagers are more likely to ‘glamorise’ the use of drugs, especially in the recent
light of role models admitting to drug addictions. Dr Lubman said that ‘When a [celebrity] comes out and admits to
taking drugs and alcohol…they can sometimes glamorise that behaviour [and] often a bad-boy image is actually seen
as quite engaging for a lot of young people.’

Melbourne researchers have said that new, targeted health campaigns were needed to change the behaviour of the country’s teens and young adults.

However Dr Lubman finds it encouraging that so many teens have made the connection between substance abuse and mental illness.

The survey’s findings have been published in the Medical Journal of Australia. For a copy of the findings, click here (PDF).

 

 

 

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