Gambling for money escalates among high school students

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Gambling for money escalates among high school students

Gambling for money increases sharply among high school students.

And the use of white snus is increasing among young people despite the new age limit, according to CAN’s annual school survey.

Quick version

  • According to CAN’s annual school report 2023, gambling for money and use of white snus has increased among high school students in Sweden.
  • Despite the new age limit, white snus use continues to rise – 13% of ninth graders and 24% of high school students have used it in the past 30 days.
  • The report also shows that a small group accounts for the majority of drug use among students, while the use of nitrous oxide and e-cigarettes remains at high levels.

    • ⓘ The summary is made with the support of AI tools from OpenAI and quality assured by Aftonbladet. Read our AI policy here.

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    The Central Association for Alcohol and Narcotics Information (CAN) annually reports surveys on alcohol, drugs, doping, tobacco and gambling among students in year 9 and upper secondary school year 2.

    In a press release on Monday, the report for 2023 was published.

    In it, it appears above all that games for money and the use of snus are increasing in Swedish schools.

    40 percent of high school students say they gambled for money during the year, which is a sharp increase and the highest since the surveys started.

    When it comes to the use of snus, it is mainly the white snus that is involved.

    – We can see that young people’s use of white snus continues to increase this year, even though an age limit was introduced in August 2022, says Siri Thor who is an investigator and researcher at CAN and editor-in-chief of this year’s report.

    The report shows that 13 percent of ninth graders and 24 percent of high school students have used white snus in the past 30 days.

    Drug use

    Regarding the use of narcotics among students, 7 percent in ninth grade and 15 percent in year 2 of upper secondary school answered that they had used narcotics at some point. And for the first time, CAN has analyzed what proportion of these used drugs often.

    Where the results show that a small group was responsible for the majority of drug consumption.

    – Of those who have used drugs, it is about a tenth that accounts for the largest part of the practice. A similar pattern is seen in the adult population, says Siri Thor.

    At the same time, the report shows that the use of nitrous oxide is still at high levels, but that it has decreased since 2022, when the measurements were started.

    Even the sharp rise in e-cigarettes seen last year has been broken but is still at high levels.

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