Netherlands National Drug Monitor - Research and Documentation ...

4.2 Usage: general population
Heroin use is low in the general population (Rodenburg et al., 2007).
• According to the 2005 NPO survey, 0.6% of the Dutch population aged between 15
and 64 had ever experienced heroin. This is more than the surveys of 1997 and 2001
(0.3% and 0.2% respectively).
• In all survey years, the percentage of recent and current users was less than 0.1%,
with the exception of recent users in 1997 (0.1%).
• These figures are likely to be an under-estimate, because problem users of hard drugs
are under-represented in the NPO surveys. Many users of illegal opiates or methadone
clients are not reached through random sampling, because they may be homeless, in
prison, or otherwise out of the picture. They may possibly be included in statistics by
means of other research methods (see § 4.3).
4.3 Usage: juveniles
Heroin is not popular among secondary school-goers in mainstream education aged 12
and older (Table 4.1).
• In 2007 there were more boys than girls who had ever used heroin. Ever use in boys
was 0.9% versus 0.7% in girls; current use for boys was 0.6% versus 0.2% for girls
(Monshouwer et al., 2008).
• The percentage of ever users has fluctuated around one percent since 1988. Since
then, no more than half of that group was currently using heroin.
Table 4.1 Heroin use among pupils of mainstream secondary schools aged 12 to 18 from 1988
Use 1988 1992 1996 1999 2003 2007
Ever 0.7% 0.7% 1.1% 0.8% 1.1% 0.8%
Current (past month) 0.3% 0.2% 0.5% 0.4% 0.5% 0.4%
Percentage of ever use and current use (past month). Source: Dutch National School Survey, Trimbos
Institute.
Special Education
• Table 4.2 shows that pupils attending REC-4 schools more often use heroin than those
in mainstream education. This applies to all age groups (Kepper et al., 2009). Incidentally,
pupils of REC-4 schools account for only one to two percent of all secondary
school pupils in the Netherlands (See Appendix F).
• There is no significant difference in heroin use between pupils in practical education
(pro) or learning support education (lwoo) compared to their peers in mainstream
schools.
80 Netherlands National Drug Monitor - NDM Annual Report 2009