2.Reported age of first use of any drug

The RUHBC survey of health behaviours of Scottish schoolchildren, conducted in 1998, identified 21.1% of pupils in Secondary 2 and 42.7% of pupils in Secondary 4 as ‘ever’ having tried drugs.

Indicator

For those Secondary 4 pupils (average age 15.5 years) who reported ‘ever’ having used drugs, the peak age of first use (33.8% of the total) was 14 years. However, 29.7% had first tried drugs at 13 years of age and 21.2% at 12 years or younger. Comparison with the previous survey, in 1994, reveals a shift towards younger ages of first use amongst those young people who had ‘ever’ tried drugs, Figure 1.3.

Figure 1.3 : Age at which drugs were first used - S4 pupils