Survey: Youth drug abuse worsens
- Published: 15/09/2011 at 06:29 PM
- Online news: Health
A new survey had concluded that more than 1.7 million young Thais have tried illegal drugs, and kids as young as seven are using methamphetamine.
Abac Poll director Noppadol Kannikar said on Thursday the study involved 12,253,191 youths aged between 12 and 24 years in 17 provinces across the country, and was conducted from Aug 15 to Sept 14, 2011.Out of 2,783 samples, 20.7 per cent of them admitted they started smoking cigarettes when they were about 15 years old. The youngest age was five. He said 35 per cent said they began drinking alcoholic beverages when about 16 years old, and the youngest age was four.Mr Noppadol said marijuana was the most commonly used drug with 894,483 users, followed by methamphetamine with 649,419 abusers and crystal methamphetamine, or ice, with 563,647 abusers. The average age of drug abusers was 16 to 17.He said the youngest age of people admitted to methamphetamine abuse was seven.Young people who smoked cigarettes were five times more likely to use illegal drugs, and young drinkers were seven times more likely to...
This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here.
About the author
- Writer: Online Reporters
- Position: Online Reporters
