Today’s students are shunning drugs more than ever before.
Just one in 10 Gen Zs have ever taken a Class A substance like cocaine or ectsasy.
Usage was twice as high among Gen Xers during their party years in the late 1990s, official figures show.
As well as steering clear of drugs, the health-conscious generation are also drinking less alcohol and avoiding red meat.
Cannabis is still the drug of choice for 16-24 year olds, found the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in its annual drug survey.
Just over a quarter of all young adults quizzed between April 2023 and March 2024 said they had ever smoked weed in their lifetime.
Eight per cent have tried cocaine.
Despite recording a drop in usage for all 22 drugs tracked, today’s young adults are taking more ketamine than previous generations.
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Nealy 7 per cent of today’s 16-24 year olds have experimented with Ket – commonly taken at all-night raves.
For comparison, 2.3 per cent of Gen Xers quizzed before the turn of the century had ever tried the substance, originally used as an anaesthetic in animals like horses and humans.
The slight decline year-on-year comes on the back of growing warnings issued over the ‘campus killer’.
Dozens of student deaths over the past few years have been linked to Ket, including those of Sophie Russell and Rian Rogers.
Russell, from Lincolnshire, first took ketamine — which killed TV star Matthew Perry — in 2021, when she was offered it during a night out with friends. The 20-year-old soon developed a rampant addiction and was taking the drug daily.
Her mother Tracy Marelli begged ministers to reclassify the party drug as Class A in the wake of her death.
Rogers, from Atherstone in Warwickshire, died after taking a dose that was 10 to 20 times more potent than his usual.
His mother Clare also called for ketamine to be put under the toughest bracket.
Dozens of student deaths over the past few years have been linked to Ket, including those of Sophie Russell and Rian Rogers. Russell, from Lincolnshire, first took ketamine — which killed TV star Matthew Perry — in 2021, when she was offered it during a night out with friends. The 20-year-old soon developed a rampant addiction and was taking the drug daily. Her mother Tracy Marelli (pictured together) begged ministers to reclassify the party drug as Class A in the wake of her death
Rogers, from Atherstone in Warwickshire, died after taking a dose that was 10 to 20 times more potent than his usual. His mother Clare (pictured together) also called for ketamine to be put under the toughest bracket
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Ketamine – which can bought for the same price as a takeaway coffee – is said to be the dealers’ drug of choice because its Class B status means less jail time than being caught with Class A drugs like cocaine, ecstasy or heroin.
Nitrous oxide – dispensed into balloons and inhaled to create a temporary feeling of relaxation and euphoria – has also massively fallen out of fashion.
Just 3.3 per cent of Gen Zers said they have used ‘hippy crack’ in the last 12 months, with rates at an all-time low.
The downturn in nitrous oxide also comes amid warnings about the lead side effects, including dizziness, weakness in the legs and impaired memory.
The ONS report, based on a survey of thousands of people, also took place after the Government’s ban on hippy crack.
Possession was made illegal last autumn under plans to tackle the blight of anti-social behaviour.
Overall, 3 per cent of adults – which the ONS said was equivalent to 1million people aged between 16 and 59 in England and Wales – reported using a Class A drug in the last 12 months.
Although drug use is on the decline, vaping is at endemic levels.
Shocking stats show a quarter of today’s children have tried puffing on the nicotine-laden gadgets that litter shops across the country.
What’s worse, a tenth are now regular users, sparking fears of a future health crisis given the mystery surrounding the long-term safety of e-cigarettes.
It comes after it was reported that boozy office Christmas parties are being replaced by crazy golf and ping-pong tournaments as Gen Z workers demand sober celebrations and companies seek to avoid sexual harassment claims.
A huge cultural shift in the last 10 years has led more than one fifth of big firms to shun traditional pubs and bars for their festive events in favour of sober ‘activities’ – which will leave behind none of the usual embarrassment or the hangover.
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While the vast majority of work Christmas parties were held in pubs a decade ago, the number of alternative venues has grown steadily in the years since.
A fifth of office parties will today be completely alcohol-free.
The move comes after new laws made firms responsible for protecting staff against sexual harassment, which includes unwanted drunken fumbling under the mistletoe.
But a new generation of young workers are also less likely to drink, and are keen to maintain stricter boundaries between their work and social lives.
