Generation “no thanks”
Young people are drinking and smoking less, taking fewer drugs and having fewer babies
JAY ELWES
On a downer
Drugs and the young
In 1998, a clear majority of youngsters (54 per cent) said they’d taken drugs; by 2016 it was more like a third (36 per cent). The use of LSD has been fading faster than a hallucination—back in 1996, when today’s Centrist Dads were ravers, 13 per cent had dropped acid; by 2016 it was 3 per cent. “Despair” drugs like heroin have also declined (from 1.6 per cent in 2000 to 0.1 per cent), and despite the media panic, “legal high” use is now falling too, from 6.1 per cent in 2014 to 4.2 per cent last year. The only drug to defy the trend is cocaine, which has held steady at about 10 per cent since 2000.