The Prevalences of and Perceived Risks from drug use among Teenagers in 33 European Countries

The study examines data from teenagers from 35 countries taking part in surveys conducted within the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). The main hypothesis tested was that the higher the prevalence of use of a particular drug the fewer will be the respondents who perceive great harm in using it. The hypothesis was tested for cannabis, alcohol, ecstasy and inhalants and was strongly confirmed for the former two in the data from the 1999 and 2003 surveys. For cannabis the perceived risk of harm changed in the expected direction as prevalence changed between 1999 and 2003. The results, although always in the expected direction, were inconclusive regarding ecstasy and inhalants