Transcript Patterns of cannabis use by age

Overview of the cannabis use in Europe
Paul Griffiths, Reitox academy, Berlin, 29th March 2007
Overview of this presentation…
• Supply side data
• Europe in the global context
• Types cannabis product
• Epidemiological data on cannabis use
• survey data
• patterns and trends
• Intensive use & problems
• Concluding remarks
• Information needs
EMCDDA
• EMCDDA decentralised technical agency of the European
Community
• Monitoring and analysing the EU drug phenomenon since
1995:
• Role is to collect, analyse and disseminate objective,
reliable and comparable information on drugs and drug
addiction and their consequences
• Provide an evidence based picture of the drug
phenomenom at European level
Reitox Network
30 European Countries
FI
Allow
NO
SE
- Annual reporting
EE
LV
-Expert working groups
DK
LT
-Objective, reliable &
comparable data
IR
UK
NL
BE
PL
DE
CZ
LU
SK
AT
HU
FR
SI
RO
IT
PT
BG
ES
EL
TR
MT
CY
Cannabis market in Europe
• Europe main global resin consumer
• Morocco produces around 80% world’s
supply of cannabis resin
• Mainly imported via Iberian peninsular
• Herbal picture more complicated
• More source countries (Albania, Asia, Africa, E.Europe, Caribbean)
• Increasing domestic production with in E.U. boarders
Supply side data
Resin
• Herbal
•
•
Around 300,000 seizures
Compared to resin •
•
Nearly 100 metric tons
•
•
Spain accounting for
•
•
•
75% of volume
50% Number of seizures
Upward trend since 2000 may
be levelling off
Only about half as many
seizures
Less 10% volume seized
• Number seizures increasing
but in terms of quantities the
picture is less clear
• Complicated by…
•
•
Plants seized
Domestic production
Is it getting stronger?
• Data poor and drawing
conclusion difficult
• No clear trends in resin or
imported herbal cannabis
• Some high potency products
have always been available
• Evidence that typical
potency of intensively
produced cannabis relatively
high
• This product may be
becoming more popular
´´The evidence suggests that the average
potency of cannabis has increase but not
to the extent often claimed. Changes in
patterns of cannabis use, with earlier age
of first use and more regular use of more
potent forms of cannabis have probably
been more important in increasing
average dose of THC than any increase in
the THC content of cannabis plants´´
Hall et al 2001.
Global Overview
Annual Prevalence Estimates: (162 million or 3.9% of all adults)
Europe
19%
Americas
23%
Other
2%
Asia
32%
Africa
24%
Source UNODC, World Drug Report 2007
Prevalence - European estimates
• 70 million people used once
• 23 million used last year (7% of all adults)
• 13.4 million last month
(4 % of all adults)
• 3 million daily users (1% of all adults)
Czech Republic
USA
France
UK (E&W) *
Spain
Germany
EU
Denmark
Italy
Netherlands
Estonia
Ireland
Norway
Latvia
Slovakia
Hungary
Finland
Portugal
Poland
Sweden
Greece
%
Last year use of Cannabis: Young adults (15-34 )
25,0
20,0
15,0
10,0
5,0
0,0
Trends
• Still considerable inter-country variation, but:
• we now see a more homogenous picture among high middle
ranking countries
• often same patterns but differences in scale and timing
• Most countries reported an increase in use in
the 1990s
• Situation appears to becoming more stable
although trend still upwards in some countries
Czech Rep.
Ireland
UK
France*
Spain*
Slovenia
Slovak
Italy
Estonia
Denmark
Poland
Latvia*
Hungary
Portugal
Lithuania
Finland
Malta
Norway
Sweden
Greece*
Cyprus
Lifetime prevalence of cannabis use among 15/16 year
old school students in 1995,1999 and 2003 (ESPAD)
Percent
40
%
20
1995
1999
2003
0
Trends in last year prevalence: young
adults (aged 15-34)
25
Spain
France
Czech Republic
20
United Kingdom (England and Wales)
Germany
Denmark
15
%
Italy
Netherland
Estonia
10
Norway
Slovakia
Hungary
5
Finland
Sweden
Greece
0
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
Trends in last year prevalence: young adults
(aged 15-34)
25
20
%
15
10
5
0
1990
1991
1992
France
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
United Kingdom (England and Wales)
1999
2000
Germany
2001
2002
Finland
2003
2004
Sweden
2005
Patterns of use
• Most use remains episodic and concentrated
among the young
• Worries that the number of those using the
drug intensively may be increasing
• Levels of regular and intensive use among
young males in particular may be high
• Demands for treatment are increasing
although data difficult to interpret
Age of First Use (18 Year Old Sample)
60%
55.7
47.7
50%
45.2
40%
37.3
28.6
Female
30%
Male
20%
19.7
13.8
10%
5.0
1
0%
1
7-11 years
7.3%
2
2
12 years
2.3
13 years
14 years
15 years
Source ESCAPAD 2001, OFDT
16 years
17 years
Patterns of cannabis use by age
(lifetime and last month prevalence – source Dutch National Survey 2001)
Lifetime experience
Current use (last 30 days)
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
12-15
16-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-49
50-59
60-69
>=70
Proportion of cannabis using adults (15-64 )
reporting daily or almost daily use
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
LV (2003)
IT (2001)
EL (1998)
IE
(2002/03)
PT (2001)
NL
(2000/01)
FR (2000)
ES (2001)
"Daily or almost daily users" =use on 20 days or more during the month previous to the interview
Frequency of Cannabis Use at Age 18
100%
90%
80%
13.3
6.4
10.0
70%
60%
50%
3.6
3.3
6.7
20.2
23.9
7.7
5.8
Occasionally
Initiator
40%
30%
20%
Intensive
Regular
Repeated
54.8
44.3
10%
0%
Male
Source ESCAPAD 2001, OFDT, France
Female
Abstinent
Distribution of new clients demanding treatment in 2004 by
primary drug in 18 countries (15 EU + BG, RO, TK)
10%
42%
28%
8%
12%
Heroin
Cocaine
Other stimulants
Cannabis
Other drugs
Trend (%) in new treatment clients using heroin,
cocaine, cannabis, other stimulants in 19 EU countries
(17 EU + BG, RO) from 1999 to 2004
70,0
60,0
50,0
40,0
Heroin
Cocaine
Cannabis
Other Stimulants
30,0
20,0
10,0
0,0
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
EMCDDA activities on cannabis
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Selected Issue on Cannabis Treatment Demand (2004)
Insight on Cannabis potency (2004)
On-going work to improve measurements of intensive cannabis use
(2005)
Thematic paper on legislative approaches, focusing on cannabis (2005)
Technical data-sheet analysing trends in cannabis use in the Eastern
European Countries (forthcoming 2006)
Working group on scales of problematic cannabis use in GPS (ongoing)
Report on how to improve measurement of intensive, problematic and
dependence in survey data (2007)
EMQ module on drug availability
Production of the cannabis drug profile (on line end of march 2007)
Selected issue of drugs and driving focussing on cannabis and
benzodiazepines (launch AR 2007)
Cannabis Scientific Monograph (forthcoming 2007)
Information needs
• Better monitor patterns of intensive and regular use
• Better monitor the cannabis market and the relative availability of
different cannabis products
• Better understand the needs and profiles of cannabis users being
seen by drug treatment services in Europe
• Better understand the extent to which cannabis users not in contact
with services are experiencing problems
• A monitoring system does not provide answers to most of these
questions: it raises questions, which can be answered with more
focused research projects