The findings are based on the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey, which the University of Tampere has been conducting every two years since 1997. Some 4,500 youths aged 12-18 participated in the survey.
Among the respondents, 12 percent of 16-year-old boys said that they use snus, while the figure among 18-year-old boys was 14 percent. Girls also turn to the smokeless tobacco more often than before. Adolescents’ first experience with snus also happens earlier than previously.
Snus passes nicotine into the bloodstream through the gums after it has been placed under a person’s lip. The sale of snus is forbidden in Finland and there are strict restrictions on how much snus can be brought into the country from abroad for personal use. Researchers propose tightening these restrictions further.
Cigarettes: used less, but easy for kids to buy
The new survey also featured an increased number of young responders who said that they knew someone who had tried drugs.
On the other hand, the decline in alcohol consumption among youth has continued since 2000.
Smoking among adolescents has also gone down in the last few years. Nonetheless, one in five youths aged 16-18 smokes on a daily basis.
Every third 14-year-old girl and every sixth boy who smoke daily said that they can purchase tobacco on their own, even though the age limit on tobacco sales in Finland is 18.
For this reason, researchers hope that the monitoring of tobacco sales will be stepped up, for example through rewarding the retailers who protect children from tobacco.