Licit and illicit drug use in Amsterdam, 1987 to 2001. Development of drug use in Amsterdam, as measured in five population surveys between 1987 and 2001

This report presents an overview of the main results of five drug use prevalence surveys amongst the population of Amsterdam aged 12 years and over conducted by the Centre for Drug Research (CEDRO). The consecutive surveys were conducted in 1987, l990, 1994, 1997 and 2001 to measure the prevalence of the use of a range of licit and illicit drugs at these particular points in time (Sandwijk et al., 1988; Sandwijk et al., 1991; Sandwijk et al., 1995; Abraham et al., 1998; Abraham et al., 2002). Substances included in the study are alcohol, tobacco, hypnotics, sedatives, cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy, hallucinogens, mushrooms, a range of opiates, inhalants and performance enhancing drugs. The survey population was defined as all persons of 12 years and older, registered in the Amsterdam population registry. In each Amsterdam drug use survey, 3,000 to 4,000 randomly selected respondents participated and answered questions about their use of drugs. Although adjustments were made in the survey methodology, none were made in the sample strategy, target population, and only a few in the questionnaire (drugs were added, questions about use frequency were extended, etc.). Therefore, it is possible to use the several measurements as a time series and explore drug use developments over time. The data is presented in three chapters. Chapter 2 gives an overview of the survey and methodology and describes the changes over time with regard to the sample, method, representativity and data weighting. Chapters 3 and 4 describe the prevalence of drug use expressed in core indicators for all five survey years. Drug use is defined by three prevalence indicators (lifetime, last year and last 30 days). Lifetime and last month prevalence rates are also given for each drug per gender. Other core indicators are last year and last month continuation, percentage of experienced users per drug, and incidence rates. Last, mean age of initiation and mean age of current use (last 30 days) are reported. (Extract of the publication)