Almost five out of ten adolescents in the Region of Murcia, between the ages of 14 and 18, admit to having tried an electronic cigarette. Its use has tripled in the last five years, in a trend that is repeated at the national level, according to data published in the latest Estudes report, the Survey on drug use in Secondary Education in Spain.
The survey was carried out amongst 1,131 students from ESO to Baccalaureate and Vocational Training in 26 centres and 85 classrooms, out of a total population of 59,696 students at the regional level.
The only autonomous community that exceeds a usage of 50% of those who have smoked electronic cigarettes is Extremadura. Behind it are the Regions of Murcia, Andalusia and the Valencian Community. Catalonia and the Region have the highest prevalence of regular smokers while La Rioja, Asturias and the Basque Country offer the lowest.
In the vast majority of autonomous regions, statistics show that their use is more widespread among boys than among girls with 30.9% of them having tried them.
The first contact with tobacco occurs, on average, at 14.1 years, which represents a stable trend that we have seen since 2016. Daily smoking among adolescents in the Region begins at an average age of 14.9 years, a few months after having tried it for the first time.
The use of cannabis by youngsters cannabis starts at a similar average age, just 14.7 years, according to the same study.
It is the drug with the least variation in the average age of use among the different autonomous communities, with students from Catalonia, the Valencian Community and the Basque Country being the youngest to use cannabis for the first time, with an average of 14.7 years. In the Region of Murcia, the average age is 15.1.
In the vast majority of communities, it’s use is more widespread among boys than among girls.
Both alcohol and tobacco, the two substances most consumed by Spanish adolescents, are prohibited until the age of 18, but a vast majority of young students consider it “relatively easy” or “very easy” to access such substances. The latest report shows that almost 93% share these views in the case of tobacco while the figure rises above 94% when asked about alcohol.
