Sintaxis de ValueExpressions

Data on trends in drug use among pupils aged 12-18 years are available from the Dutch National School Surveys on Substance Use (DNSSSU) carried out every 3 or 4 years since 1988 (Online Standard Table 02). The most recent survey was conducted in 2007. In 2008 a survey was conducted as well among pupils of schools for special education. New data on cannabis use is available from the 2009 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. The HBSC collected data from pupils in age group 12-16 year, who attended class 1-4 from secondary schools. Therefore, the data are not directly comparable with those of the Dutch National School Surveys on Substance use. For trend analyses data from both surveys have been used that cover comparable samples of pu- pils. For data on other illegal drugs, data from the Dutch National School Surveys is summarised (see also Online Standard Table 02).

2.2.1Regular secondary schools

Cannabis use

The Netherlands participated three times in the HBSC study: in 2001, 2005 and 2009. In 2009, the pupils completed written questionnaires in the classroom and anonymity was assured (Van Dorsselaer et al. 2010). Random sampling occurred in two stages (first at the level of the school and second at class level) within four strata of urbanisation level. The final net sample of respondents consisted of 5,642 students. The data were weighted with respect to gender, level of urbanisation and school type and school class. In the sta- tistical analyses corrections were made for clustering at the level of schools and classes. For trend analysis data from the Dutch National School Surveys on Substance use in 2003 and 2007 were also used. Differences between survey years were also tested in models correcting for differences in sample distribution

44

Trends in cannabis use

• Figure 2.1.2 shows that the lifetime, last year and last month prevalence rates of cannabis use decreased between 2001 and 2009. For each measure differences be- tween 2001 and 2009 were significant.

• In 2009, 12% of the pupils had ever used cannabis and 5% was a current user. • The decrease occurred both in boys and girls.

Figure 2.1.2: Trends in lifetime, last year and last month prevalence (%) of cannabis use among pupils (12-16 years)

Sources: Dutch National School Survey on Substance Use and HBSC, Trimbos Institute (Monshouwer et al. 2008; Van Dorsselaer et al., 2011).

Cannabis use: and age and gender

Figure 2.2.1 shows that cannabis use strongly increases with age.

• At age 12 only few pupils have ever used cannabis, less than 1%. At age 16, one in five girls and one in three boys had ever tried cannabis.

• While boys have overall more ever and current experience with cannabis, gender dif- ferences are only significant for current use and only at age 16.

• While the Dutch National School Surveys on Substance use have shown a strong in- crease in the age of first cannabis use between 1988 and 1996, the HBSC studies showed that lifetime prevalence among 14 year old pupils decreased from 20% in 2011 to 11% in 2009.

Figure 2.2.1: Lifetime and last month prevalence (%) of cannabis use among pupils by gender and age in 2009

Source: HBSC, Trimbos Institute (Van Dorsselaer et al., 2010).

Frequency of cannabis use

• Nine percent of the pupils of 12-16 years had used cannabis in the past year. Of this group, 42% had smoked cannabis only 1 time, 49% smoked between 2 and 39 times and 10% was a relatively heavy user (40 times or more in the past year).

Cannabis use: school level and ethnicity

• There were no significant differences between school types in the percentages of re- cent and current cannabis users.

• There were also no major differences in prevalence rates between Dutch and other ethnic groups, except for a lower rate of recent use among Moroccan pupils (4% against 10% among Dutch pupils). This difference remains significant after correcting for differences in school type and family situation between Dutch and Moroccan pu- pils.

Use of other drugs (NNIA)

• In general, the 2007 survey showed that prevalence rates of use of ecstasy, cocaine, amphetamine, hallucinogenic mushrooms and heroin among 12-18 year old pupils were much lower compared to cannabis, with lifetime rates around 2%, while only 0.8% of the pupils had ever tried heroin (Monshouwer et al. 2008 (see also Online Standard Table 02)). Last month prevalence rates are for all drugs below 1%.

• As for cannabis, the use of other drugs generally peaked in 1996 and decreased or stabilised since then. Ecstasy remains the most popular ‘party’ drug throughout the years, except for the last month prevalence in 2007, which was similar for ecstasy, cocaine and amphetamine (0.8%).

46

2.2.2Special education

NNIA. In the National Report 2009 the results have been described of a survey among pupils of secondary special education (Kepper et al. 2009). Three school types for special education were included: Rec-4 (institutionalized pupils, for those who are who are un- educable or have specific problems, eg. psychiatric problems, chronic diseases), Pro (practical education, for those who are not expected to be able to successfully complete their lower vocational study), and Lwoo (providing additional support to those students who have special needs or other problems, but are capable of successfully completing their lower vocational education). The data were compared with those from regular sec- ondary education. Drug use rates were overall highest among pupils from Rec-4 schools (which make up 1% of all pupils of secondary schools). There were no or only minor dif- ferences in drug use between pupils from Pro, Lwoo and regular schools, except for GHB (lowest rate among pupils from regular schools). In contrast, the prevalence of current alcohol use did not differ between school types, but the prevalence of binge drinking (consuming 5 or more glasses or more on one occasion in the past four weeks) was higher among pupils from all special school types compared to their peers from regular schools.