Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey 2015: new psychoactive substances

Scottish Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) 2015 : Five Key Facts About New Psychoactive Substances

1. New Psychoactive Substances ( NPS), sometimes misleadingly known as 'legal highs', are drugs which are designed to replicate the effects of illegal substances (and some have become classed as illegal themselves). The 2015 SALSUS data shows the use of NPS among 15 year olds is low compared with cannabis use - and is comparable with the use of ecstasy and cocaine.

2. 13% of 15 year olds reported that they had ever been offered some form of NPS. This compares with 37% who had been offered cannabis, 17% who had been offered ecstasy and 11% who had been offered cocaine.

3. Among those who had used NPS in the previous month, the most popular NPS were synthetic cannabis (72% of pupils who had used an NPS in the previous month had taken it) and mephedrone (71% had taken it). But around half (48-54%) had taken each of the other categories of NPS.

4. As well as being more likely to have taken drugs overall, boys were also more likely than girls to have taken an NPS: 18% of 15 year old boys who had taken drugs in the past month had taken an NPS, compared with 9% of girls.

5. There was no clear pattern of NPS use in terms of area deprivation.

SALSUS collects information on smoking, drinking, drug use and other lifestyle factors from young people all over Scotland. It is part of an important and long established series of national surveys which allow comparisons to be made between over time, between different parts of Scotland and between Scotland and other countries. 25,304 pupils participated in the 2015 wave. More information is available at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Research/by-topic/health-community-care/social-research/SALSUS