If You Think the Dutch Are Good at This, Think Again!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...57&e=4&u=/nm/20041119/od_nm/swiss_cannabis_dc

Who Smokes the Most Dope in Europe?

Fri Nov 19, 9:25 AM ET Oddly Enough - Reuters

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss teenagers smoke more cannabis than their peers in every other European country, a survey said Thursday, casting a pall over the country's prim and wholesome image.

One in three Swiss 15-year-olds has lit up a joint within the past year, while the number of teenagers regularly smoking or getting drunk rose 10 percent between 1998 and 2002, the Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse said in their survey.

"For a large number of young people, falling back on alcohol, cigarettes or cannabis is part of a response to growing social pressures and a failure to engage with the future," survey leader Holger Schmid said in a statement.

Britain and Spain trailed Switzerland as the top cannabis consumers, while British and Scandinavian teenagers stood out for "drinking in order to get drunk," the survey of children aged 11-15 in more than 30 European countries showed.

Dispelling the image of the Netherlands as a haven of hash-lovers, young people in this country showed only an average level of cannabis use.