Around two out of ten teenagers from Conejero, between 13 and 18 years old, have consumed cannabis at some point in their lives or in recent years. Thus, one in ten has done so with tranquilizers, sedatives and sleeping pills. This is reflected in the Study and Diagnosis of Addictions of Young People in municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants of Lanzarote, prepared by Tágora Estudios e Intervención Social.
Around 6% have consumed cocaine and ecstasy at some point. Despite this, the most common substances are alcohol (six out of ten), electronic cigarettes (five out of ten) and tobacco (two out of ten) say they have already tried it at some point in their lives.
Dr. Rosa Martínez, from the Specialized Care Team for Minors and Young People of the Addiction Care Unit of the Social Rights area, reveals that young people start and maintain consumption due to a lack of motivation to participate in regulated activities or other offers in their social environment.
The research analyzes the consumption habits of alcohol, tobacco, electronic cigarettes, tranquilizers, sedatives and sleeping pills, as well as other drugs, in addition to gambling with money or bets or the use of internet or mobile phones of minors between 13 and 18 years old.
However, the students surveyed showed the possibility for future studies to take into account also the consumption of energy drinks and addiction to sports through vigorexia.
Specifically, in Lanzarote the municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants were analyzed: Haría, San Bartolomé, Tinajo and Yaiza, as the Cabildo is responsible for preparing plans to fight against drug dependence and addictions. The final sample included 883 students from the institutes of Tinajo, San Bartolomé, Playa Honda, Haría, Yaiza and the CEO of Playa Blanca.
In the municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants "a high number of young people are concentrated who do not have the resources or alternatives" to start managing situations that arise in social interaction with other people of their age.
Alcohol: the most frequent
The average age at which minors on the island start smoking, vaping or drinking alcohol is 13 years old. Meanwhile, one in ten started drinking alcoholic beverages every week from the age of 14 and experienced their first drunkenness also at that age.
Supermarkets, other people's homes, stores and kiosks are usually the most frequent way that adolescents use to access alcohol, sometimes bought by themselves, despite the fact that its sale to minors is prohibited, and others by people of legal age. At this point, private homes are where alcohol consumption in minors occurs most frequently.
Thus, the consumption of tranquilizers, sedatives and sleeping pills also occurs at an early age, around 13 years old. At that point, 2.49% of minors take some of these substances daily (or almost). In most cases, they get it through people over 18 years of age.
Meanwhile, minors start gambling with money on the internet or outside the networks at the age of 12. However, most minors, nine out of ten, deny having ever gambled online with money and eight out of ten deny having done so outside the internet.
Most frequent activities: internet, sports and going out in the afternoons
The favorite activity of adolescents is the use of the internet for fun, where eight out of ten students use the networks regularly five to seven days a week. Meanwhile, sports is another of the most common activities, nearly eight out of ten adolescents perform physical activities once a week.
The aforementioned research highlights that "even in social interactions the mobile phone is always present". So that nomophobia or the irrational fear of being without a mobile phone affects "especially" adolescents. The report concludes that minors may suffer "serious consequences" from this dependence due to the developmental process they are in.
After these, the most followed activities are outings in the afternoons or night outings. Thus, four out of ten young people surveyed stated that they never read books. In addition, four out of ten said they had ever entered pages for adults with content of violence or sex. Three out of ten do so regularly.
It should be noted that during the sampling, some students stated that they did not feel identified within the man - woman binomial and others could not complete the questions due to visual difficulties or specific diversities, as well as due to language problems.
