Compare and contrast juvenile drug use within the United States and Europe

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

? The latest comparative study of teenage drug use in Europe found that one in five students (21%) had used illicit drugs over their lifetime. This compares with almost two in five American students (36%) who have used illicit drugs over their lifetime, based on the same sample and reporting period in the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey.
? Comparisons across European countries of the percentage of students who have ever used illicit drugs are just as striking, ranging from a low of 5% in Romania to a high of 46% in the Czech Republic.
? Carried out by a consortium of agencies, the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) surveyed more than 100,000 10th-grade students in 34 European countries.
? Although American students are more likely to use marijuana and other illicit drugs over their lifetime, European students are more likely to smoke cigarettes and use alcohol over their lifetime.
? In England, underage drinking (the legal drinking age is 18) and drinking overall has become a "national crisis," which has resulted in the government considering a range of new measures, including tougher penalties for drunken behavior and making pubs pay for some of the costs of extra police officers.
? In the United States, 62% of students report any alcohol use, while in the Czech Republic and Latvia, the two countries with the highest rate, 97% of students report any alcohol use.
? Of the 36 countries, the United States has the lowest rate of teenage alcohol use; Iceland was second lowest at 66%.
? Past studies of teenage drug use in Europe show decreasing rates in more countries (12) than countries with increasing rates (6); another 13 countries report a more or less stable situation.
? In the United States, the rate of teenage drug use shows declines from the recent peak years of 1996 and 1997.