BMJ 2000;321:655 ( 16 September )

CANNABIS USE FALLS AMONG DUTCH YOUTH

Cannabis use among Dutch schoolchildren aged 10-18 years has fallen
for the first time in 16 years, a national survey of risk behaviour
among 10000 young people has shown.

The school survey, carried out by Trimbos, the Netherlands Institute
for Mental Health and Addiction (www.trimbos.nl), showed that about
one in five young people had used cannabis at some time in their lives
but less than a tenth had used it in the previous four weeks ("current
users").

Such a survey is carried out every four years with funding from the
health ministry. The surveys have shown that cannabis use among
current users rose sharply in the early and mid-1990s, from a figure
of 3% in 1988 to a high of 11% in 1996. The figures for current users
in 2000 were 9.3% (12.4% for boys and 6.5% for girls), compared with
10.7% (13.7% for boys and 7.7% for girls) in 1996.

The latest results also show a 40% reduction in use of ecstasy from
2.2% to 1.4% and in use of amphetamines from 1.9% to 1.1% Cocaine use
increased from 1.1% to 1.2

Among cannabis users most had smoked the drug once or twice in the
previous four weeks; a third of cannabis smokers were "frequent users"
(had smoked two or more times a week). More than half of cannabis
users bought their drug from other users, a third from "coffee shops,"
and one in 10 from dealers.

The Dutch survey follows recent data also showing a "striking"
reduction in drug use among 15-16 year olds in the United Kingdom (BMJ
320:1536-7), even though more than a third had used cannabis.

The Dutch health minister, Els Borst, has called for more research
into why young people use drugs. She believes a more open debate is
now possible. Together with Germany and Switzerland, she is calling
for a European "scientific and political" conference on soft drugs.