IT’S a familiar sight in any urban area – a group of young teenagers outside a shop, in a park or on a street corner puffing away on cigarettes or drinking from cans.

Although the law forbids anyone under 18 from buying cigarettes, tobacco products or alcohol, youngsters rarely seem to have much trouble getting their hands on them, whether from an older friend or sibling, with the help of a fake ID or an unscrupulous shopkeeper looking the other way.

But it seems the picture in Wales may be a bit brighter.

Last week the Argus reported smoking and drinking among teenagers in Wales had dropped sharply since the late 1990, with eight per cent of boys and nine per cent of girls aged 15 and 16 smoking weekly.

Meanwhile 15 per cent of boys and 13 per cent of girls were drinking on a weekly basis.

This is the lowest rate since monitoring began in 1986 and far below its peak in the late 1990s.

Although Wales’ chief medical officer Dr Ruth Hussey hailed the results, saying teenagers were setting “a great example for older generations”, how does Newport and surrounding area stack up?

Not well at all, says inclusion officer with Bettws Communities First, Goff Davies.

“I’m working with young people at the moment and I am surprised by how many of them are smoking,” he said.

“We’re working with about 16 young people and out of that there are only three who don’t smoke.

“For me that seems to be a very high level, which surprises me given the cost of a pack of cigarettes.

“Whether that’s peculiar to this area I don’t know.”

He said he believed teens most often picked up a cigarette as a result of being pressurised into it by their friends.

“I don’t think it’s a rebellion thing,” he said.

“I think it’s peer pressure.

“It’s the thing to do to look cool. But they start and then they very quickly become addicted.

“We’ve got a couple here who have said they would like to give up but either haven’t got round to it or they haven’t got the self-discipline. I keep nudging them to do it but it hasn’t happened yet.”

Mr Davies, who is currently working with young people aged 14 to 23, said he wasn’t sure if a similar number of youngsters were drinking alcohol, but anecdotal evidence suggests many are.

“When it comes to drinking I don’t really know because we don’t really see the young people in the evening,” he said. “We hear a few tales about house parties and things but I don’t really know.”

He added he was concerned smoking could lead to more damaging substances such as cannabis or other drugs.

“When young people smoke tobacco I think there’s a real danger that will be tempted to try cannabis,” he said. “If you’re a non -smoker you’re less likely to smoke cannabis because you don’t smoke in the first place, so why would you?”

Mr Davies said the best advice for youngsters was not to start smoking in the first place.

“If you talk to people who have been smokers for a long time most of them say they wish they’d never started,” he said. “And the longer you smoke the harder it is to give up.”

When last week’s report was released Dr Hussey praised Wales’ youngsters for what she called “a prudent approach to healthcare”.

“These figures challenge some of the assumptions we make about young people, and show that growing up in an era when smoking is restricted in public places and not the norm, is leading to a change in culture,” she said.

But, although detailed statistics on how many young people in Newport are smoking and drinking are not available, anecdotal evidence suggests the picture here is much less rosy than elsewhere in Wales.

Alison King of the Ringland Community Association said rates of smoking among young people were “very high”.

“I’ve worked in this are for three years and I’ve seen so much of it,” she said.

“They start from 12, 13 and 14 years old.

“We’re based in the Ringland shopping centre so we see a lot of them walking through smoking.”

Although there is no clear link between the habits and anti-social behaviour, some have also said youngsters who smoke or drink are much more likely to commit crimes or cause problems in the community.

As well as the increased dangers of lung cancer, breathing difficulties problems and other conditions caused by smoking, teens are also putting themselves at risk of a range of other problems, including heart disease later in life.

Smoking also affects fitness, making it difficult to take part in sport at a time when young people might otherwise be at their physical peak and can also cause sexual problems for both boys and girls.

Young female smokers are also much more likely to struggle to conceive, suffer a miscarriage or experience problems during pregnancy and delivery and their children are at greater risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death.

Meanwhile drinking alcohol while young can also impair brain development as well as cause a number of other problems.

Studies have shown people who start drinking while young are much more likely to abuse alcohol later in life.

Support for young people who want to give up smoking or drinking is available from their doctor, or many schools now run confidential counselling services where teenagers can get help and advice.