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Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2008-09: Drug Use
26/01/2010
Scotland's Chief Statistician today published Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) 2008-09: Drug Use. The publication presents statistics on adults' experiences of illict drug use in Scotland since the age of 16.
It covers self-reported use in the last month (ie the month prior to the survey interview), the last year (ie the year prior to the survey interview) and ever (ie at some point in respondents' lives).
The report also examines frequency of drug use, perceived dependency on drugs, access to drugs, polydrug use and age of first use amongst adults in Scotland.
The main findings are:
Prevalence of illicit drug use in Scotland
- A quarter (25.6 per cent) of adults reported taking one or more illicit drugs at some point in their lives, even if it was a long time ago
- One in thirteen (7.6 per cent) adults reported having used one or more illicit drugs in the last year, i.e. the 12 months prior to interview
- Almost one in twenty (4.4 per cent) adults reported using one or more illicit drugs in the last month, i.e. the month prior to interview
- Cannabis was the drug adults most commonly reported that they had used. Almost a quarter (22.9 per cent) of adults reported that they had taken cannabis at some point in their lives, around one in twenty (6.2 per cent) reported using cannabis in the year prior to interview, and 3.5 per cent reported using cannabis in the month prior to interview
- Stimulants were the drugs adults next most commonly reported that they had used. Adults reported that they had taken amphetamines (7.5 per cent), ecstasy (7.2 per cent), cocaine (6.6 per cent) and poppers (6.5 per cent) at some point in their lives
- In the year prior to interview and in the month prior to interview, cocaine was the next most commonly used drug after cannabis (2.7 per cent of adults reporting use in the year prior to interview and 1.2 per cent in the month prior to interview)
- Men reported higher levels of illicit drug use than women. Over three in ten (31.3 per cent) men reported taking one or more illicit drug at some point in their lives compared with two in ten (20.4 per cent) women
- More than one in ten (11.1 per cent) men reported using one or more illicit drug in the year prior to interview compared with 4.3per cent of women. 6.7 per cent of men compared with 2.4 per cent of women reported use of one or more illicit drug in the month prior to interview.
- Similar proportions of 16-24 year olds (41.3 per cent) and 25-44 year olds (40.3 per cent) reported that they had used illicit drugs at some point in their lives
- Reported use of illicit drugs in the year prior to interview and the month prior to interview was higher for 16-24 year olds (23.5 per cent in the last year and 13.3 per cent in the last month) than for 25-44 year olds (10.1 per cent in the last year and 6.0 per cent in the last month) Comparing self-reported drug use in 2008-2009 and 2006
- The proportion of 16-59 year olds who reported that they had taken any illicit drug at some point in their lives, in the year prior to interview and in the month prior to interview was lower in the SCJS 2008-09 than in the Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey (SCVS) 2006
- The proportion of 16-59 year olds who had taken cannabis in the year prior to interview was 8.4 per cent from the 2008/09 survey compared with 11 per cent in 2006. The proportion of 16-59 year olds who had taken cocaine in the year prior to interview was 3.7 per cent in both 2008/09 and 2006 Comparing self-reported drug use in Scotland with England and Wales
- The proportion of adults who reported they had taken an illicit drug in the year prior to interview or the month prior to interview was the same in Scotland as it was in England and Wales
- The proportion of 16-59 year olds who reported they had taken an illicit drug at some point in their lives was lower in Scotland (SCJS 2008-09) than in England and Wales as measured by the British Crime Survey (BCS) 2008-09
Being offered drugs
- Around one in seven (13.7 per cent) adults reported that someone had offered to give or sell them at least one illicit drug in the year prior to interview. 45 per cent of those offered any illicit drug in the last year reported that they had used an illicit drug in the last year, whilst 55 per cent had not Drug most commonly used
- Of those who had used at least one illicit drug ever, almost three in ten (29.6 per cent) reported using at least one drug in the year prior to interview.
- Over eight in ten (81.2 per cent) of those who had used any illicit drug in the year prior to interview had used cannabis in that time
- Over half (58.4 per cent) of those who had used any illicit drug in the year prior to interview had also done so in the month prior to interview)
- Almost eight in ten (79.1 per cent) of those who had used any illicit drug in the month prior to interview had used cannabis in that time
- Around seven in ten of those who had used any drugs in the month prior to interview reported cannabis as the drug they had taken most often in that period (70.5 per cent) Frequency of drug use
- Half (49.1 per cent) of those who reported using drugs in the month prior to interview had used their most frequently used drug on at least a weekly basis, including a fifth (20.9 per cent) who had done so every day or almost every day Dependency on drugs
- Of those who reported using drugs in the month prior to interview, more than one in five (21.9 per cent) indicated that they had felt dependent on the drug they used most often in the month prior to interview while almost four in five (77.7 per cent) reported they had not
- Of those who reported using drugs in the month prior to interview, over one in four (27.1 per cent) indicated they had tried to cut down on their use of the drug they used most often in the month prior to interview, but found they could not, while almost three in four (72.1 per cent) reported that they had not tried to cut down
- Almost one in ten (9.5 per cent) of those who had used drugs in the month prior to interview had, in that period, both felt dependent on the drug they used most often in the last month and had tried to cut down on it, but found they could not
Access to drugs
- The majority of adults (87.6 per cent) who had used drugs in the month prior to interview reported that it was easy to get hold of the drug they used most often in that period, including half (48.6 per cent) who claimed it was very easy
Polydrug use (i.e. mixing drugs with other drugs or alcohol)
- Over one third (35.3 per cent) of adults who had used at least one illicit drug in the month prior to interview reported some kind of polydrug use
- Around seven in ten (70.6 per cent) of those who had mixed the drug they used most often in the month prior to interview with any other drug, had mixed cannabis with other drugs, reflecting the predominance of cannabis as the drug used most often in the last month
- The drugs that polydrug users were most likely to have ever mixed with the drug they used most often in the last month were ecstasy (56.9 per cent) and cocaine (56.1 per cent).
- The majority of adults who had used at least one illicit drug in the month prior to interview reported drinking alcohol at some point in their lives while under the influence of the drug they had used most often in the last month (85.3 per cent) Age of first drug use
- Late teens (16-19 years) was the most common age for first using drugs, with half (48.7 per cent) reporting they had first tried illicit drugs at this age
- Around a quarter (24.1 per cent) of those who had ever used drugs first tried them when they were under 16 years of age
- Cannabis was the drug that adults were most likely to have tried first, having been tried first by three quarters (76.0 per cent) of those who had ever used any illicit drug
This is the first report on drug use from the survey since 2006 following a major redesign. The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, as a whole, was recently assessed by the UK Statistics Authority and has been designated as a National Statistics product which means that the statistics are deemed to be compliant with the Code of Practice on Official Statistics, produced according to sound methods and managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.
More information on the methods underpinning these results can be found in Chapter 1 of the report.