Smoking, vaping, alcohol and drugs
Smoking and vaping
Although fewer children try smoking now, many people still try it before the age of 18 and some go on to become regular smokers. Children are more likely to start smoking if their parents or friends smoke.
Smoking is harmful for people of all ages, but the younger someone starts, the greater the risk of harm and addiction. Smoking can stop the lungs from developing properly and may make them work less well later in life.
Children who smoke are more likely to get coughs and breathing problems in the short term. In the future, smoking can lead to serious health problems, including heart disease, lung disease and many types of cancer.
Vaping can help people who already smoke to stop smoking, but it is not recommended for people who don’t smoke – especially children and young people. Even though vaping is less harmful than smoking, there are still risks because vapes contain toxins.
Most vapes contain nicotine, which is addictive. Children and young people’s brains are still developing and they are more sensitive to nicotine. Young people who vape are also more likely to start smoking in the future.
It is illegal to sell tobacco or nicotine vaping products to anyone under 18 in the UK.
For more information about smoking and vaping visit the websites:
Alcohol and drugs
There is no safe level to drink alcohol. The healthiest and best option is for children to not drink until the age of 18. If they do drink this should not be before age 15 and should be with parental supervision.
If young people aged 15 -17 do drink, it should be infrequently, not more than once a week and should be within the low-risk drinking guidance for adults, which is:
- adults should drink no more than 14 units a week – this is about 6 pints of beer or glasses of wine - you can check the label on a drink as it will often show the total number of alcohol units in the can or bottle.
- If adults drink as much as 14 units in a week, this should be spread out over three or more days and they should have several drink-free days each week.
Lots of young people try alcohol and drinking at a low level can be fun and make people feel sociable but drinking too much alcohol can cause both short and long term harm.
Short term harms include:
- being intoxicated (drunk) which can include slurred speech, blurred vision and poor co-ordination which can lead to accidents and injuries
- alcohol poisoning, blackouts and memory loss
- dehydration
- poor sleep and depression
- change in judgement - taking risks that you wouldn’t normally
- alcohol also raises testosterone levels which can affect sex drive and aggression
There are a lot of longer-term health risks linked to regularly drinking alcohol which include liver damage, heart disease, many types of cancer, poor brain development, poor mental health and addiction.
If a young person is getting drunk regularly, drinking alcohol by themselves or feeling that they need to have a drink of alcohol, they should be supported to seek support.
Its normal for young people to be curious about drugs. There are lots of different types of drugs that young people might try which have different legal status.
Many drugs can cause harms, similar to those caused by alcohol. Regular drug use can have negative impacts on mental health, physical health, can change judgement to increase risk taking behaviour, impact relationships, finances and lead to absence and poor performance in education and work.
There is no safe drug use but there are ways to make drug use safer including: education about drugs, their effects and risks and never using drugs alone.
For more information about drugs and alcohol and to find support available in Derby visit the following websites:
What services are available in Derby?
- Livewell – service to help stop smoking; children aged 12-17 can email livewell@derby.gov.uk. Their website is Livewell - stop smoking.