1.Reported percentage use of any illicit drug ever and within the last month among young people of secondary school age

In 1994 and 1998, the Research Unit in Health and Behavioural Change at the University of Edinburgh (RUHBC) conducted a survey of health behaviours of Scottish schoolchildren¹. As part of this study, young people were asked if they had ‘ever’ used certain drugs and, if so, which of these drugs they had used ‘in the previous four weeks’. The survey did not ask about drug use ‘within the last year’.

Indicator

Comparisons between the 1994 and 1998 surveys reveal little change in overall levels of reported drug use ‘ever’, rising from 20.2% to 21.1% for pupils in Secondary 2 (average age 13.5 years) and from 44.8% down to 42.7% for pupils in Secondary 4 (average age 15.5 years), Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 : Percentage of young people in S2 and S4 who had 'ever' used any drug

In 1998, of young people who had ‘ever’ used drugs, 46.1% of young people in S2 and 54.5% of young people in S4 reported having used drugs ‘in the previous four weeks’. These percentages are lower than the 1994 survey, Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2: Respondents who had 'ever' used drugs - percentage who had used drugs 'in previous four weeks'

Background

The drug most likely to have been tried by young people was cannabis (15.0% of pupils in S2 and 40.2% of pupils in S4, in 1998), Table 1.1. In 1998, of young people who had ‘ever’ tried cannabis, more than one in three S2 pupils (35.9%) and over half of those in S4 (51.6%) reported having used it ‘in the previous four weeks’, Table 1.2.

Notes

One of the limitations of the information presented above is the absence of data for Strathclyde. In 1994, questions about the use of illegal drugs were not permitted in the questionnaires for Strathclyde region. In order to compare percentages in 1998 with those in 1994, data from education authorities comprising the former Strathclyde region have been excluded from the 1998 percentages.

A fictitous drug (‘Mop’ in 1994, and ‘Nariam’ in 1998) was included in the list of drugs in the survey questionnaire to test the validity of the responses given. The drug use data of respondents who reported using a fictitious drug has been excluded from the results. Questions on drug use ‘in the last year’ were not included in this particular survey.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) conducted a larger national survey of smoking, drinking and drug taking among secondary school children, S1 to S4, in late 1998. The results from this study will be available in October 1999.