Has Facebook saved your teen from drugs and alcohol?

TEENS are abstaining from alcohol smokes and drugs while their parents and grandparents are the bigger boozers and substance abusers.

IT’S parents and grandparents not rebellious teenagers that are the nation’s biggest drug users, smokers and drinkers a confronting government report on drug use has found.

The National Drug Strategy Household Survey has found the proportion of the over 40s who used illicit drugs rose from 14 to 16 per cent between 2013 and 2016.

More people aged 40-49 were using illicit drugs in 2016 (16.2 per cent) than those aged 14-19 (15.9 per cent)

Illicit drug use has almost doubled among the over 60s in the last 16 years and it’s also rising among those aged 35-44 and 45-54.

OUT TOMORROW: National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2016. Key findings cover Australian #tobacco #smoking, illicit #drug & #alcohol use. pic.twitter.com/eZiCQ2AdUq

— AIHW (@aihw) May 31, 2017

Fewer people aged 12—17 drank alcohol in 2016 and the proportion of teens abstaining from alcohol significantly increased from 72 to 82 per cent between 2013 to 2016.

However, among their parents and grandparents age group, alcohol consumption is rising.

In 2016, 20 per cent of the over 50s drank at risky levels compared to 1.3 per cent of 12-17 year olds and 18.5 per cent of 18-24 year-olds.

Today’s youth are abstaining from drink while alcohol consumption among parents is on the rise. Picture Thinkstock.

Fewer teenagers are taking up smoking with the proportion who have never smoked rising from 95 per cent in 2013 to 98 per cent in 2016.

The age group with the most daily smokers was the 40-49 year old group where over 22 per cent smoked daily.

Foundation of Alcohol and Research Education chief Michael Thorn says a combination of factors is behind the trend for teens to stick to the straight and narrow road.

Make #Origin better by banning #alcohol ads. Up for the challenge #NRL @NSWRL @QLDmaroons? We need #BoozeFreeSport. https://t.co/sFK0CDAvhI pic.twitter.com/4SksB7pDa6

— FARE (@FAREAustralia) May 31, 2017

Parents were more willing to suggest their children delay having their first drink, he said.

“How kids interact has changed and drinking is less important for interacting with peers, they are instead using Facebook and other digital platforms,” he said.

“There may well be some impact of price increases on some of the things young people like for their first tipple — beer and alcopops,” he said.

Fewer teens are smoking. Picture: iStock

It was also becoming harder for teens to acquire alcohol with increased vigilance by authorities and new laws that restricted trading hours in some cities, he said.

There were big problems with increased alcohol consumption among older Australians because it could interact with their prescription medicine and increase their risk of some cancers.

He said recent studies had zeroed in on cheap wine as the reason why older people were more likely to drink.

The age at which young people first try alcohol and cigarettes has risen from 14 in 1998 to 16 in 2016.

Illicit drug use rising in the over fifties. Picture istock

The report found cannabis was the most commonly used drug (10 per cent), misuse of pharmaceuticals (5 per cent), cocaine (3 per cent), and ecstasy (2 per cent).

Meth/amphetamines use has fallen from 1 per cent to 0.8 per cent of the population. However, more than half of meth/amphetamine users were using ice, up from 22 per cent in 2010.

“We found that those who mainly used ice did so much more frequently than ecstasy and cocaine users,” AIHW spokesman Matthew James said.

While only 2 per cent and 3 per cent of ecstasy and cocaine users used weekly or more often, this was 32 per cent for ice users.

The study found Meth/amphetamine has overtaken excessive drinking of alcohol as the drug of most concern to Australians (40%).