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USE: INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS


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source : Trimbos Institute

Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction

 

 

Information on drug use in the EU-Member States is provided by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).[13,14] Institutes in the US and Australia also regularly publish the results of population drug use surveys.[15,16]

 

The percentage of Americans and Australians who have ever used cannabis in their lifetime is twice as high as that in the Netherlands.

In the year prior to the survey almost one in five Australians and one in ten Americans had consumed cannabis. With the exception of the United Kingdom last year use was lower in the EU-Member States. Sweden ranks lowest in this measurement and the Netherlands takes a middle position.

Table 7 Consumption of cannabis in Western countries in the general population

 

Country Year

Ever use

Last year use

 

Australia 1998

39%

18%

 

United States 1999

35%

9%

 

Denmark 1994

31%

3%

 

England and Wales 1998

25%

9%

 

Spain 1997

22%

8%

 

Ireland 1998

20%

?

 

The Netherlands 1997

18%

5%

 

France 1995

16%

5%

 

Germany (West) 1997

13%

5%

 

Greece 1998

13%

4%

 

Sweden 1998

13%

1%

 

Finland 1998

10%

3%

 

(Flemish) Belgium 1994

6%

3%

 

 

Percentage of users. Age limits range from 14-18 (lower limit) to 60-70 years (upper limit) or 49 years (Belgium). Figures for the Netherlands: 15-70 years. Comparison is made more difficult due to differences in survey years, measure methods and samples. No information was available for unlisted EU-Member States. Sources: EMCDDA, SAMHSA, AIHW.

 

Better suited for comparison are the figures of the ESPAD, the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs. The last project was carried out in 1999 among pupils aged 15 and 16 years in secondary education in thirty European countries.[17] Table 8 shows the consumption of cannabis in the ten participating countries of the EU. The US did not participate in the ESPAD project, but carried out comparative research.

 

In the measurement ‘ever use’ Dutch pupils ranked fourth on the list.

As regards recent use, France took the lead, followed by the USA, the United Kingdom and Ireland; the Netherlands and Italy shared fifth place.

A convergence tendency is becoming visible: stabilisation or decline in countries that used to have a high percentage of users, and an increase in countries that used to have low use.

Table 8 Cannabis consumption by pupils aged 15 and 16 years in EU-Member States, Norway and the United States. Survey year 1999

 

Country Ever use

Recent use

Six times or more in the last month

 

United States 41%

19%

9%

 

United Kingdom 35%

16%

6%

 

France 35%

22%

9%

 

Ireland 32%

15%

5%

 

The Netherlands 28%

14%

5%

 

Italy 25%

14%

4%

 

Denmark 24%

8%

1%

 

Norway 12%

4%

1%

 

Finland 10%

2%

1%

 

Greece 9%

4%

2%

 

Portugal 8%

5%

2%

 

Sweden 8%

2%

0%

 

 

Percentage of users ever in lifetime and in the last month prior to the survey (recent use). Source: ESPAD.

 

LATEST FACTS AND TRENDS

- After years of increase, cannabis use among young people has stabilised.

- From an international perspective, the Netherlands is not out of line in terms of cannabis use.

- The increase in the number of cannabis users seeking help is levelling off.

- The concentration of THC is higher in Dutch marijuana (Nederwiet) than in foreign varieties, but is not extraordinarily high.

- The concentration of pesticides in ‘Nederwiet’ does not constitute a health threat.

- A greater number of marijuana plantations are dismantled.

- The number of coffee shops has declined.

 

Growers of (Dutch) marijuana sometimes use pesticides in order to protect the plants against diseases. In 1999 the Trimbos Institute and the Jellinek Prevention Centre collected 35 samples of the cheapest ‘Nederwiet’ in Amsterdam coffees shops. Chemical analyses carried out by the RIKILT showed pesticide residues in half of the samples. Furalaxyl, a substance used in ornamental plant cultivation was most prevalent. However, according to a toxicological evaluation the concentrations were so low that they did not present a health threat, even for very frequent cannabis users.

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