
Culture, drugs and alcohol
- Culture - the way of life in the UK or the culture of particular minority groups was said to affect whether young people used alcohol or drugs.
- Social life - in social situations like parties, people said that alcohol or drugs can increase their confidence and enjoyment.
- Pressure from friends - people said that they felt pressure to ‘fit in’ with friends by drinking or taking drugs.
- Escaping from problems - drugs and alcohol could be used to get away from feeling depressed or from problems at home or in their personal lives.
Alcohol and culture
Most young people in Britain grow up in households where parents regularly drink alcohol. People who’d spent time abroad sometimes wondered why the British drink so much compared to the French, for example.
- Age at interview:
- 23
- Sex:
- Female
- Background:
- Kayleigh is married and lives with her husband and their two small children. She worked full-time until a couple of years ago but now she describes herself as a 'stays at home mum'. She is involved in the activities of her local YWCA [now Platform 51] and her children attend their creche. Ethnic background: British.
I think so, in England I think, well I suppose Great Britain almost is, it’s a very drinking culture isn’t it? Because of like when you’ve got, you know, on the continent like France and Spain. I mean you’re Spanish right? Yeah, so it’s different isn’t it? Like, more relaxed and, because when we were in France they, we went on holiday to Paris and they say there’s a lot more people just sit and they have a glass of wine but they’re not like, like downing the wine, you know? [Laughs] you, they just sit and talk and, with their family or their friends and it’s, you know, they enjoy dinner and things, and here, you know, because we were having dinner, and it’s off the topic but we were having dinner the other day and I said, “Oh if we were in France.” You know, and they don’t eat, eat like that, like really quickly, people here eat so fast and, and that’s it, and then they get up and they leave, they don’t enjoy the company of sitting together and stuff like that, it’s almost like they eat like they drink you know? Drink, drink, drink, drink, it’s just like, and it’s like that here, and I said because my friend comes from Hollandand I mean that obviously legalised prostitution, legalised Cannabis, a lot of Ecstasy she’s says over there too, and she’s completely different she says, you know, she knows a lot of people who take drugs, and not like doing drugs and know what it’s going on but she says they don’t do anything like they do here, she says when British people come over to her, Amsterdam, that’s near where she lives, she says they just fall about the streets, they’re drunk, you know, they’re high as a kite, they’re all everywhere, she says but you don’t find that with Dutch people she says, they do all the same things but they’re not to an extreme and I think that’s where we’ve got it wrong.
- Adverts always show glamorous young people drinking (but "not 45 year old alcoholics" as one person pointed out),
- Many British soap operas have a pub as the main meeting place for the community.
- Alcohol is used to celebrate achievements, special occasions and birthdays.
- Social events with work colleagues are likely to involve drinking
- University social life revolves around drinking.
- Age at interview:
- 23
- Sex:
- Female
- Background:
- Kayleigh is married and lives with her husband and their two small children. She worked full-time until a couple of years ago but now she describes herself as a 'stays at home mum'. She is involved in the activities of her local YWCA [now Platform 51] and her children attend their creche. Ethnic background: British.
When they’ve got nothing because they have wasted all, but [telephone ringing] I think, they don’t show people like that because [telephone ringing] no-one’s going to buy alcohol if they show, you know, forty-five [telephone ringing] year old alcoholics are they? You know, that they, [telephone ringing] the alcohol companies are businesses they, they don’t, they [telephone ringing] can put ‘drink responsibly’ on their adverts all they like but [telephone ringing] they’re there to make money they’re not, they’re not charities you know? And I think we have to realise that they’re there to sell their product and they’ll do whatever it takes and if that means glamorising it that’s what they’ll do you know?
- Age at interview:
- 19
- Sex:
- Female
- Background:
- Emma is a first year university student and is on a University sports team. Heavy drinking every week is part of team building. She tries to be responsible by knowing her limits with alcohol. Ethnic background: White British.
Yeah as a young person you would be like if I was involved with drugs the potential punishment and consequences of being involved with drugs are so much worse than those of alcohol, so it’s a, you know, I would go and drink instead because if you get caught drunk or drinking underage what do you get? You know, a slap on the wrists, the Police call your parents, not good, admittedly no-one wants to be in the situation but it would seem like the consequences would be less severe so it, yeah that’s probably why people drink more I think, and the availability potentially of alcohol is easier than drugs but then I wouldn’t really know because I’m not looking for drugs [laughs].
There are places in the UK where smoking cannabis is as common as drinking alcohol is in the rest of the country. We talked to young people who had grown up in households where parents or siblings smoked cannabis on a regular basis.
- Age at interview:
- 20
- Sex:
- Female
- Background:
- Chloe works with young people with complex and special educational needs. She lives at home with her mother and younger sister. Ethnic background: mixed other.
Some young people said that illegal substances are cheap and very easy to get hold of in their neighbourhoods. Chloe pointed out that cannabis is not seen as a ‘hard drug’ in some areas so is not seen as a problem. Kasim said that everybody he knew smoked weed. Karis and Kasim use cannabis themselves but are unhappy about how their neighbourhood has been affected by drugs and gang problems.
- Age at interview:
- 20
- Sex:
- Male
- Background:
- Kasim lives alone on a council estate. He has enrolled in a 13 week hairdressing course, and has a college placement. Ethnic background: Mixed race. Karis lives alone on a council estate. After leaving school she got an apprenticeship at a nursery and goes to college once a week. She hopes to pursue a career in childcare. Ethnic background: Black British.
- Age at interview:
- 20
- Sex:
- Male
- Background:
- Kasim lives alone on a council estate. He has enrolled in a 13 week hairdressing course, and has a college placement. Ethnic background: Mixed race. Karis lives alone on a council estate. After leaving school she got an apprenticeship at a nursery and goes to college once a week. She hopes to pursue a career in childcare. Ethnic background: Black British.
- Age at interview:
- 16
- Sex:
- Female
- Background:
- Bekky studies full-time and lives with her parents and her sibling in a small town in the north of England. British.
- Age at interview:
- 20
- Sex:
- Male
- Background:
- Ben is a first year university student who started drinking heavily in his gap year. He has occasionally taken drugs when he has been drinking.
- Sex:
- Male
- Background:
- Full-time student, single. White British. Harry is on treatment and recovering from psychosis. He blames cannabis/skunk for his illness. He said that his parents have been very supportive throughout this episode.
Like thousands there’d be a like a thousand people or whatever and everyone’s just, everyone’s doing drugs.
See also social life, drugs and alcohol and alcohol and social life.
Last updated: July 2018.
Last reviewed: July 2018.