Source: EUROPEAN SCHOOL SURVEY PROJECT ON ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS (ESPAD)

26 March 2009

Read the Summary of the ESPAD report

Use of illicit drugs among 15–16-year-old school students appears to have stabilised or slightly fallen, according to the latest European study of this group published today by ESPAD. The report, which follows a 2007 survey conducted in 35 European countries, also reveals a decrease in last-month rates of cigarette smoking among school students. However, it sounds the alarm over clear rises in the group’s ‘heavy episodic drinking’, and the narrowing gender gap in this behaviour.

This is the fourth data-collection wave conducted by the ESPAD project, with multi-national surveys carried out in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007. Over 100,000 school students took part in the latest survey. Of the countries participating, 25 were EU Member States. The 2007 ESPAD report: substance use among students in 35 countries, available in English, will be complemented by a multilingual summary produced with the support of the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA). The EMCDDA includes ESPAD data in its annual reporting on the drug situation and the two bodies work closely together under a cooperation framework signed in 2007. One of the aims of this accord is to broaden access to the information and expertise gathered by the project.

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