How much are Scottish teenagers smoking, drinking and taking drugs?
Scottish teens are drinking more alcohol than they did in 2015, but smoking and drug use remains largely unchanged.
SALSUS is a continuation of a long established series of national surveys on smoking, drinking and drug use. These were carried out jointly in Scotland and England between 1982 and 2000, to provide a national picture of young peoples' smoking (from 1982), drinking (from 1990), and drug use (from 1998) within the context of other lifestyle, health and social factors. Since 2002, Scotland has developed its own, more tailored survey known as SALSUS. The latest wave of the survey was conducted in 2018, the fifth time Ipsos have been commissioned by the Scottish Government to do so.
The aim of SALSUS is to inform progress towards Scottish Government policies to reduce the harms from smoking, drinking and drug use among children and young people. The survey series also provides local prevalence rates for smoking, drinking and drug use across Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs), local authorities and NHS Boards.
- Please visit the Scottish Government website to access the national overview or the technical report.
- For more information, please contact Carolyn Black or Linda Hutcheson on 0131 220 5699.
