Report on the Drug Situation 2010 - Bundesministerium für ...

The quitting rate 3 is considerably higher for all illicit substances than for alcohol (10%)
and nicotine (38%) and is around 80% also regarding cannabis (exceptions show in the
case of LSD and biogenic drugs: approx. 90%, as well as cocaine: approx. 60%). This
confirms that use of illicit substances is a temporary phenomenon in the case of most
people and typically limited to adolescence and young adulthood.
In the survey, people who had used cannabis in the past 12 months were also asked if
they had problems related to cannabis use and to specify which problem indicator
applied (difficulty to stop using the drug, worried because of drug use, cannot control
drug use). For each indicator, at least four out of five respondents said that they
'hardly ever' had the problem in question.
It has already been mentioned in last year's report (GÖG/ÖBIG 2009b) that certain data
of the survey do not seem to be plausible, because a comparison of the surveys
conducted in 2004 and 2008 reveals such an extraordinary decline in lifetime prevalence
rates that it is ruled out by logic. As other studies (see GÖG/ÖBIG 2008c) have
confirmed a trend towards stronger objections and more repressive attitudes to drugs
and drug policies, a likely assumption is that the willingness to admit illicit drug use in
an interview has gone down (Uhl et al. 2009). A national REITOX Academy has been
planned to take place in autumn 2010, where the issues of data reliability and possible
solutions will be discussed. At any rate, the prevalence rates indicated in the survey
definitely seem to be too low. While caution is advised when interpreting the available
data, they seem to be plausible at least at a qualitative level (e.g., regarding differences
according to age and gender).
2.2 Drug use in the school and youth populations
Regarding drug use among young people, no new data are available either, but to
complement the prevalence rates given already in 2008 (GÖG/ÖBIG 2008c; see
Table A2 in Annex A) a number of detailed results from the final report on the 2007
ESPAD study 4 (see Strizek et al. 2008) are worth mentioning.
3
Share of former drug users among all people indicating past or present drug use.
4
In 2007 Austria took part in the ESPAD study (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs) the
second time after 2003 (see Uhl et al. 2005b). A total of 277 classes with 5 959 school students in the 9th and
10th grades were asked to complete questionnaires on experience of use. The Austrian ESPAD study was
funded by the Federal Ministry of Health, Family and Youth.
14 © GÖG/ÖBIG, <strong>Report</strong> on the Drug Situation 2010