Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2012/13: Drug Use

Key Findings

Prevalence of illicit drug use in Scotland

• In the SCJS 2012/13, 6.2% of adults reported having used one or more illicit drugs in the last year, in comparison to 7.6% of adults in the SCJS 2008/09. This represents a statistically significant decrease between 2008/09 and 2012/13.
• In the SCJS 2012/13, 23% of adults reported having used one or more illicit drugs at some point in their lives, in comparison to 25.6% of adults in the SCJS 2008/09. This represents a statistically significant decrease between 2008/09 and 2012/13.
• Looking at drug use by legal classification, the SCJS 2012/13 found that 2.6% of adults reported use of Class A drugs; 5.3% of adults reported use of Class B drugs; and 1% of adults reported use of Class C drugs in the last year.
• There has been a statistically significant decrease in reported use of Class A and Class B drugs (-0.8 and -1.1 percentage points respectively) in the last year between 2008/09 and 2012/13.
• Cannabis is the most common drug used with 5.1% of adults reporting use in the last year.
• Cocaine use in the last year has decreased significantly from 2.7% in 2008/09 to 1.7% in 2012/13.
• There has been a statistically significant decrease in adults reporting use of cannabis (-1.1 percentage points), cocaine (-1.0 percentage points), ecstasy (-0.5 percentage points) and tranquilisers (-0.4 percentage points) in the last year between 2008/09 and 2012/13.
• There has been a statistically significant decrease in those reporting that someone has offered to give or sell them at least one type of illicit drug in the last year with around one in ten adults (10.6%) reporting being offered at least one type of illicit drug in the last year in comparison to 13.7% of adults in 2008/09.
• Illicit drug use is associated with demographic, socio-economic, and geographic factors. In the SCJS 2012/13, 16.4% of adults aged 16-24 reported using any illicit drugs in the last year. This represents a statistically significant 7.1 percentage point decrease from the SCJS 2008/09.
• 0.5% of adults reported having taken any of the 'new drugs' in the last year.

The experiences of adults reporting illicit drug use in Scotland

• Cannabis is the most frequently used drug in the last month with 75.9% of adults who had used illicit drugs in the last month reporting the use of cannabis.
• Of all adults who had used any illicit drug in the last month, around a third (34.1%) reported using their most frequently used drug once or twice in the last month; three out of ten (30.2%) reported using their most frequently used drug on almost a daily basis; and around a quarter (26.4%) reported using their most frequently used drug between one to six days a week.
• Around a quarter of adults (23.2%) who had used drugs in the last month said that they felt dependent on the drug they used most often.
• The majority of adults said that it was very easy (45.4%) or fairly easy (39%) to get hold of the drug used most often in the last month.
• Over half of adults (54.1%) who had taken more than one illicit drug in the last year, said that they had taken different drugs at the same time in the last year.
• Of all adults who had taken any illicit drugs in the last year, around three out of five adults (64.2%) reported that they had consumed alcohol at the same time as taking drugs in the last year.
• The most common age for first trying drugs was the late teens (16-19).
• Of all adults who had taken any illicit drugs at some point in their lives, the majority reported that their first drug used was cannabis (79.7%).
• The majority of adults (92.2%) who reported taking illicit drugs at some point in their lives did so by smoking, sniffing or inhaling them. Around two in five (41.3%) also reported that had tried to swallow, eat or drink drugs.