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| As part of the 1993 Scottish Crime Survey, respondents between the ages of 12 and 59 were asked a number of questions about their knowledge and use of controlled drugs and solvents. The resulting data - reported in summary here - represent the first national estimates of the prevalence of drug use across Scotland as a whole. A more detailed analysis of the findings can be found in the Central Research Unit repot by Richard Hammersley. |
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| Main findings |
- 17% of those interviewed had taken a controlled drug or solvents at some time. The most frequently reported drug was cannabis, which had been taken by 14% of all those aged 12 to 59 and by 24% of those in the 16-29 age group. Just over 6% of respondents aged 12-59 reported using cannabis during the previous year.
- Just over 1 in 10 respondents reported having used any controlled drug other than cannabis. Of those aged 16-29, 19% reported using some other drug at some time and 10% had done so within the past year.
- Amphetamines, LSD, psilocybin and valium had been used 'ever' by between 2% and 5% of the sample; ecstasy, temazepam, solvents and cocaine by 1-2%; and crack cocaine, heroin, and methadone by less than 1%. Less than 1% also reported having ever injected drugs. Figures for use during the previous year were half or less of these figures.
- 44% of 20-24 year-old males and 33% of 16-19 year-old females reported having used some drug at some time and 33% and 19%, respectively, reported having done so in the last 12 months.
- Men generally reported more drug use than women, the under 30s more than the over 30s and urban inhabitants more than rural inhabitants. Drug use experience was prevalent in all types of neighbourhood in Scotland, but highest in areas characterised by flats and tenements, followed by areas high in deprived council housing.
- Reported experience of use of cannabis was higher in Lothian than in other Scottish regions but use of other drugs was more evenly distributed.
- Prevalence of experience of drug use in the survey was broadly comparable with that recorded by the 1992 British Crime Survey in England & Wales, though slightly higher in the 16-24 year old age group.
- Non-users did not often report being offered drugs.
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| Introduction |
| The Scottish Crime Survey (SCS) was based on a representative sample of 5,030 individuals aged 16 or over, interviewed in their homes during March and April 1993. The main purpose of the survey was to gather information about public perceptions and experiences of crime. However, respondents between the ages of 16 and 59 were also asked to complete a short questionnaire which asked about their knowledge and use of drugs. Any young people aged 12 to 15 resident in the household were also asked to complete a similar, though more detailed, questionnaire which provided comparable information. |
| Five questions were asked about a range of drugs: |
| respondents were asked if they had heard of any of the drugs, whether they had ever taken any, whether they had been offered any in the last 12 months, whether they had taken any in the last 12 months, and - if they had ever taken any - what methods of drug use they had tried. Having completed the questionnaire, respondents were asked to seal it in an envelope provided and return it to the interviewer. |
| For the SCS as a whole, a response rate of 77% was achieved and, of those who responded within the target age group, the drugs questionnaire was returned by 94%. The achieved sample size for 16-59 year-olds was 3,386 and for 12-15 year-olds, 495. |
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| Limitations of the data |
| As with any sample survey, it is important to be aware of the limitations of the data. First, more serious drug users are likely to be under-represented in households, being relatively more likely to be homeless, in hospital or prison, or in a residential treatment centre. Secondly, people surveyed in this way may deliberately under-report their use of drugs, particularly in the context of a survey about crime. Finally, people may forget a single use of a controlled substance if it happened many years earlier, particularly if they currently regard themselves as non-users. |
| All of these factors make it likely that the survey to some extent underestimates the actual prevalence of drug use experience in Scotland, particularly in relation to more serious drugs such as heroin or crack cocaine. Some overreporting may also occur, but it has not been shown to be a major problem in surveys of this kind - indeed only 4 respondents reported use of a bogus drug, 'Semeron', and these may have been mistakes rather than exaggerations. Overall, then, the results presented here are best viewed as a baseline or minimum estimate of experience of the use of controlled drugs among the Scottish public. |
| One further point should be noted. A relatively high level of non-response to the drugs questions (8%) among respondents aged 12 to 15 means that estimates of drug use experience for this age group are less reliable than for the adult population (in which non-response was only 0.4%). |
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| How many people had ever used drugs? |
| Of all those interviewed, 17% (or roughly 1 in 6) reported 'ever' having used one of the controlled substances asked about. This suggests that between 500,000 and 600,000 Scots between the ages of 16 and 59 have tried drugs at some point in their lives. As the graph below shows, however, levels of use vary considerably between different sections of the population. Reported use was generally highest in the 16-24 year-old age group - 33% of females aged 16-19 and 44% of males aged 20-24 said they had ever used at least one of the drugs listed. The lowest levels of use were found amongst the youngest and the oldest respondents. |
| In general, males were much more likely than females to report experience of drug use (a pattern familiar from other research and repeated for most individual drugs). However, this was not the case for the 16-19 year-old age group, in which some 33% of females reported use, compared to roughly 27% of males. |
| No significant differences in levels of use were found between respondents in different socio-economic groups but did emerge in relation to neighbourhood type. Respondents living in rural/agricultural areas were least likely to have 'ever' used drugs, while those living in areas characterised by flats and tenements and in areas of council housing with greater deprivation were most likely to have done so(1). |
| (1) These findings are based on analysis by Scottish ACORN type, further details of which can be found in the main report on this aspect of the survey |
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| How many people had used drugs in the last year? |
| Experience of drug use in the last 12 months was markedly less common than use 'ever', suggesting a good deal of experimental, temporary or one-off use. Of all those interviewed, 7% had used a controlled drug during the previous year. Not surprisingly, however, the gap between 'lifetime' and '12 month' prevalence was narrower among younger respondents. Again, the peak ages for use were between 20 and 24 for men (33%) and 16 tol9 for women (19%). Recent drug use was much less common among those aged 25 or over. |
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| Which drugs had they taken? |
| The graph below shows the percentage of respondents reporting that they had used each of the drugs listed, both 'ever' and 'in the last 12 months'. Amore detailed breakdown of use by age and sex is contained in the table on the last page. |
| Cannabis was by far the most commonly reported drug. Just over 1 in 6 males (17%) and 1 in 10 females (10%) said that they had used it at some point and 8% and 5% respectively said that they had used it in the last 12 months. The highest levels of use 'ever' were found amongst males aged 20-24, 37% of whom had tried the drug. |
| Roughly 1 in 10 respondents reported ever having used any drug other than cannabis. The next most commonly used drug was amphetamine. Although only 5% of the sample as a whole had ever used this, much higher rates were found in some age groups. One in 5 males aged 20-24, for example, and roughly 1 in 6 females aged 16-19 had taken amphetamines. Unlike with cannabis, experience of use tended to tail off much more sharply in subsequent age groups. |
| The pattern of LSD use was similar to that for amphetamines, with experience of use highest in the 16-24 year-old age groups and tailing off sharply thereafter. More than 1 in 9 males aged 16 to 24 had taken LSD during the previous year. There was a similar pattern among males for psilocybin ('Magic mushrooms'), but females were relatively less likely to have tried this substance. |
| Only 1 respondent in 50 said that they had ever taken ecstasy. Again, however, this rose to more than 1 in 8 among 20-24 year-old males and 1 in 12 16-19 year-old females. More than 1 in 10 males aged 20-24 had taken ecstasy in the last year. |
| The prescribed drugs, valium and temazepam, had been used illicitly at some stage by 3% and 2% of the sample respectively. The age profile for the two drugs differed, however, with valium misuse being spread more evenly across the different age groups, but experience of the misuse of temazepam showing the more familiar peaks between the ages of 16 and 24. |
| Although solvents are reputed to be most commonly used by young teenagers, the survey results suggested a similar distribution by age and sex to that for other drugs, with 16-l9 year old males and females most likely to have used them. |
| Experience of the use of heroin, crack cocaine and methadone was reported by fewer than 1 person in 100, as was experience of use of any drug by injection. |
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| The geography of drug use |
| Experience of cannabis use was markedly more common in Lothian than elsewhere in Scotland, followed by Central and Strathclyde regions. However, more than 1 in 10 respondents in all of the Scottish regions reported cannabis use at some point. The reported experience of use of drugs other than cannabis was more evenly distributed across the country, though residents of the Islands, the Borders and Dumfries & Galloway were less likely to report use of these drugs. |
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| Being offered drugs |
| In general, it was rare for people who had not taken drugs to be offered them, suggesting low rates of active 'pushing' of drugs to non-users or, less plausibly, that people almost always accept offered drugs. For example, only 3% of those who had never used cannabis reported having it offered to them at any stage. The figures for amphetamines and ecstasy were similar. Fewer than 1 nonuser in 100 reported having been offered crack cocaine or opiates. Further details of this analysis can be found in the main report on this aspect of the findings. |
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| Comparisons with England & Wales |
| The 1992 British Crime Survey in England & Wales was very similar in design to the 1993 Scottish Crime Survey, allowing comparisons to be made of the experience of drug use in the two jurisdictions. As the following graph indicates, reported levels of use 'ever' were very similar -within a percentage point for each drug except cannabis. However, in the age group most likely to use drugs (those aged 16-24), levels of use were higher in Scotland. Further details on these comparisons can be found in the main drugs report. |
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| Conclusion |
| Within the general limitations of a survey of this kind, the Scottish Crime Survey provides a valuable indication of the levels of drug misuse within the Scottish population. The results suggest that, within the population as a whole, experiences of drug misuse is relatively widespread, but use within the past 12 months is much less common, as is use of those drugs most commonly associated with dependency-opiates and cocaine. However, levels of use both 'ever' and 'in the last 12 months' are markedly higher among those aged 16 to 24. The results also suggest that levels of experience of misuse in Scotland are broadly comparable with those found in England & Wales but again, are slightly higher in the 16-24 age group. |
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| Percentage of respondents who had used specific drugs, 'ever' and 'in the last 12 months', by age and sex |