NGO: Only 10 Bucharest high schools are drug consumption free, but consumption below EU average

In only 10 out of the 105 Bucharest high schools drugs are not consumed, according to Gigel Lazăr, executive president of the International Anti-Drug and Human Rights Center CIADO, an NGO active in drug use and trafficking prevention programs, quoted by Digi24. Commenting on possible solutions to the situation, Lazar pointed to alternative educational programs. “We need to develop alternative programs, regardless of whether we are talking about sports, cultural activities, in the sense of involving the youth in the performances, theater,” Lazar told Digi 24. The National Anti-Drug Agency reacted to these statistics and said that experimental drug use among 16 year olds in Romania is below the European average, Agerpres reported. The agency quoted the latest ESPAD (The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) study that showed Romania is 24 out of 37 surveyed countries on the consumption of any illicit drug. The agency also said that although CIADO used official data, these are used “outside of the scientific context in which they were published” and “presented in a distorted manner”, as they are combined with data gathered by the NGO’s volunteers. An ESPAD (The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs) study released in 2016 showed that almost 11% of Romania’s teenagers aged 16 use illicit drugs. The number is lower than the European average of 17.8%. More boys consume drugs (13.6%) compared to girls (8.4%). Most of the Romanian teenagers aged 16 consume cannabis – 8.1%, new psychoactive substances (NPS) – 5.1%, solvents / inhalants – 3.6%, cocaine – 3.3%, LSD or other hallucinogens – 2.4%, ecstasy – 2.1%, heroin – 1.7%, ketamine – 1.8%, injecting drug – 1.3%, crack – 1.2%, amphetamines – 1.1%, hallucinogenic mushrooms – 1.2%, methamphetamines – 1%, and GHB – 1.1%. More than three quarters of Romanian teenagers drink alcohol, study shows editor@romania-insider.com