According to research carried out in 2012 by the Institute of Mental Health, one in five Greek students are smoking. A total of 683 schools took part in the study, with students aged between 13 and 19.
The Deputy Minister of Education, Simos Kedikoglou, stated during the press conference for the presentation of the 4th national conference on smoking, that these figures are alarming.
Each year there are 6,000 health education programs, a quarter of which (1,500) aim to discourage smoking.
According to Kedikoglou, the programs for students in primary education last 3 months, and 5 months for those in secondary education. At the same time, there are 59 counselling centers whose role it is to provide guidelines to class teachers. The Education Ministry believes that these programs and the educational material they provide on the dangers of addictive substances does successfully inform students of the risks.
During the conference, Kedikoglou also talked about the bad example set by Members of Parliament. He referred specifically to the failure of anti-tobacco legislation and said that the law is not being applied, even within Parliament buildings.
In September 2013, research carried out by the statistics service Kapa, showed that 80% of respondents expressed disappointment that Greece is the only country in Europe that does not implement the law on the protection from passive smoking.
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