cannabis statistics Europe

HOW DO GOVERNMENT POLICIES, PRO-DRUG OPINIONS, AND OTHER FACTORS AFFECT TEEN MARIJUANA USE?

Several western European countries have recently moved toward less restrictive drug use policies. In light of these developments, it may be instructive to review marijuana use rates by teenagers in various countries to assess any correspondence between public attitudes, policies, and use.

A study (results shown in the following table) notes that almost all participating European countries reported increasing marijuana use among teenagers between the years 1995 and 1999, although it suggests that use specifically in the United Kingdom and Ireland declined. But the United Kingdom, with a vocal portion of its population favorable to drug use and some political leaders there endorsing a much more “liberal” approach to drugs, remains very high on the teen cannabis prevalence list. The Netherlands, long notorious for its pro-drug policies, also has high rates of cannabis use by youth.

Spain, which no longer arrests people for possession of “soft” drugs, appears to have a teen lifetime cannabis prevalence rate approximately that of the Netherlands. Portugal, essentially having decriminalized drug possession, on the other hand has low marijuana teen use rates. Perhaps the most overt example of the relationship between restrictive governmental policies/anti-drug public attitudes and low drug use is in Sweden, where current marijuana use by teens is very low.

PERCENT OF 15-16 YEAR OLDS REPORTING CANNABIS (MARIJUANA OR HASHISH) USE 29 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES & MOSCOW 1999

LIFETIME USE	USE IN PAST 30 DAYS
1-3. Czech Republic, France, United Kingdom (each 35%) 4. Ireland (32%) 5. *Netherlands (28%)* 6-7. Italy, Slovenia (each 25%) 8. Denmark (24%) 9. Greenland (23%) 10. Moscow (City only, 22%) 11. Ukraine (20%) 12. Slovak Republic (19%) 13. Latvia (17%) 14. Croatia (16%) 15. Iceland (15%) 16. Poland (14%) 17. Estonia (13%) 18-20. Bulgaria, Lithuania, Norway (each 12%) 21. Hungary (11%) 22. Finland (10%) 23. Greece (9%) 24-26. Macedonia, Portugal, Sweden (each 8%) 27-28. Faroe Islands, Malta (each 7%) 29. Cyprus (2%) 30. Romania (1%)	1. France (22%) 2-3. Czech Republic, United Kingdom (each 16%) 4. Ireland (15%) 5-6. Italy, *Netherlands (each 14%)* 7. Slovenia (13%) 8. Greenland (10%) 9. Denmark (8%) 10. Poland (7%) 11-12. Croatia, Slovak Republic (each 6%) 13-17. Estonia, Latvia, Portugal, Moscow (City only), Ukraine (each 5%) 18-23. Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway (each 4%) 24-25. Macedonia, Malta (each 3%) 26-27. Finland, Sweden (each 2%) 28-29. Cyprus, Faroe Islands (each 1%) 30. Romania (0% rounded)
AVERAGE = 16.8%	AVERAGE = 6.9%
MEDIAN (HALF HIGHER, HALF LOWER) = 14.5%	MEDIAN (HALF HIGHER, HALF LOWER) = 5%

Source for the above table is report of the “European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD).” Netherlands data sample was not drawn according to ESPAD guidelines. Other European countries not shown in the table did not participate in the ESPAD survey. However, somewhat comparable data are available from the 2001 Annual Report of the EMCDDA (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction). This shows lifetime cannabis prevalence rates (left column in the table above) for Belgium (24% in 1999); Luxembourg (28% in 1999); and Spain (28% in 1998). Lifetime rate for the United State was reported by the EMCDDA to be 41%.

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