Belgium (The Brussels Morning Newspaper): Over 16% of young people in Belgium use sleep aids, with stress as a factor. Alcohol consumption remains, but cannabis use has dropped significantly, per VAD’s survey.
It has been reported that more young people are using sleep aids and sedatives, with over 16% trying them. For girls, it’s over 20%. These pills can be addictive, warns VAD director Katleen Peleman. She thinks stress and anxiety are the main factors. Young people deal with a lot of stress, especially during exams, and seek a fast solution when they feel down. The pills can only be bought with a prescription.
Are young people misusing sleep aids and alcohol?
Peleman says the issue is the big packs; many homes have many sleep aids. This makes it easier to share them without a doctor’s advice. We should be more careful about this as a society. Young people don’t drink alcohol mainly because they don’t feel the need for it, and they care about their health.
Even though many young people are careful about their health, some still drink alcohol regularly. For example, in a class of 20 students aged 17 and 18, around five or six drink alcohol weekly or even daily. Almost a quarter of young people have tried binge drinking. The survey found that cannabis use among young people dropped by nearly half. In 2011, 17% of students had tried cannabis, but now only 9% have. VAD has been conducting a big yearly survey of high school students for 25 years on alcohol, drugs, gambling, gaming, and social media.
