Teenage boys in Scotland worst in the WORLD for smoking weed

NEARLY one in four Scots boys have smoked cannabis by the age of 15 — the world’s worst rate for lads under 16, a shock report reveals.

Two-fifths of girls here were also found to have tried e-cigs by age 15, higher than in countries such as France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Norway.

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The major four-year study by the World Health Organisation and University of Glasgow quizzed 280,000 children aged 11, 13 and 15 from 44 nations on their use of dope, cigarettes, vapes and booze.

An alarming 23 per cent of 15-year-old boys in Scotland said they had puffed a joint during their lifetime.

The rate is the highest than that for lads of the same age in every other comparable country including Italy.

Schoolkids were asked how many days they had taken the drug in their lifetime, and over the previous month.

Overall, only girl of 15 in Canada are more likely to have tried a spliff, with 25 per cent admitting to it.

Glasgow Uni’s Dr Jo Inchley, international coordinator for the study, said: “Compared with other countries, we’re still relatively high, and 15-year-old boys in Scotland have the highest levels of cannabis use across the study as a whole. That’s concerning.”

New laws across the UK — backed by MPs earlier this month — will ban anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, from buying tobacco products for life.

In Scotland, SNP ministers aim to ban single-use vapes by 2025.

Dr Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, yesterday warned that widespread use of harmful substances among children “is a serious public health threat”.

He added: “Unfortunately, children today are constantly exposed to targeted online marketing of harmful products, while popular culture, like video games, normalises them.”