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Executive Summary
This report presents the findings on self-reported drug use, and attitudes towards drugs and drug-taking, from the 2004 face-to-face Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey ( SCVS).
The SCVS focuses primarily on experiences of personal and household crime, and is designed to provide a measure of crime complementary to police recorded crime statistics. However, there is an additional self-completion questionnaire which asks adults about their misuse of drugs. The self-completion module has been a feature of the SCVS since 1993 and has remained largely unchanged - enabling a comparison of trends over time.
The 2004 face-to-face SCVS interviewed 3,034 adults aged 16+ between July and November 2004. In order to maintain a sufficient sample size for the self-completion element, a further 1,973 adults completed an abbreviated version of the main survey. This consisted of a short face-to-face questionnaire with questions on fear of crime and demographics, and these respondents were also asked to undertake the self-completion questionnaire. The overall response rate for the 2004 survey was 67 per cent. Of the 5,007 adults who completed either the 2004 main survey or the 2004 shortened version, 4,424 undertook the self-completion questionnaire. The response rate for self-completion element of the 2004 survey was therefore 59 per cent (based on all of the eligible sample).
Chapter 1 of this report provides background to the survey and notes on the limitations and interpretation of the data. Chapter 2 focuses on the prevalence of drug use. It also examines trends over time and the characteristics of drug users. A brief comparison is made with results for England & Wales from the British Crime Survey ( BCS). Chapter 3 provides details of the types of drugs used and methods of drug taking. Chapter 4 looks at those who were offered drugs and the types of drugs offered. Chapter 5 examines awareness of drugs, attitudes towards drug taking and perceptions of harm.
The main findings are summarised below.
Prevalence of drug misuse
The misuse of drugs remains an activity carried out by a minority of the population. Among those who do misuse drugs, only a minority take drugs very frequently.
Around one in 12 individuals (8 per cent) admitted to drug misuse in the last year and around one in twenty (4 per cent) admitted to drug misuse in the last month.
Current drug users find little difficulty in acquiring drugs: 68 per cent said it was 'very easy' and 28 per cent said it was 'fairly easy'. The majority will be referring to cannabis which is by far the most commonly used drug.
Polydrug use (the concurrent use of more than one drug at the same time, often with the intention of enhancing the effects) remains rare.
Trends over time (1993-2004)
The proportion of people admitting to drug use at some point in their lives has risen from 18 per cent in 1993 to 24 per cent in 2004. This rise has not followed a linear pattern: in 1996, the proportion had risen to 23 per cent, only to fall to 19 per cent in 2000 before rising again. Nonetheless, the general pattern does suggest that more people are admitting to at least some act of drug taking, at some point in their lives, than was the case in 1993.
However, the results relating to current drug taking - considered the most reliable indicator of change - are more stable. The proportion who had taken drugs in the last year has risen by just 1 per cent between 1993 and 2004 - which is not a statistically significant difference. Similarly, although we only have data from 2000 onwards, there has been no real change in the proportion having taken drugs in the last month (5 per cent in 2000, 5 per cent in 2003 and 4 per cent in 2004).
Characteristics of drug users
Drug use is concentrated among the younger age-groups. Those aged 16-24 are the most likely to have taken drugs in the last year (19 per cent had done so). Drug taking tends to decrease with age: 16 per cent of those aged 25-29, 9 per cent of those aged 30-34, 5 per cent of those aged 35-39 and 2 per cent of those aged 40-59 had taken drugs in the last year. 1
Around one in 12 respondents were younger than 14 when they first used drugs. The most common age to have first tried drugs was 16.
Drug taking is more common among men than women, particularly among those aged 25+. Overall, 9 per cent of men compared with 7 per cent of women had taken drugs in the last year.
Patterns of drug use are also associated with economic factors such as annual household income and working status. Those with an annual household income of less than £10,000 per annum were more likely to have taken drugs in the last year: 29 per cent of 16-29 year olds in the lowest income bracket had done so compared with between 10 per cent and 16 per cent in higher income brackets. Similarly, 7 per cent of 30-59 year olds in the lowest income bracket had taken drugs in the last year compared with 2-3 per cent of those in higher income brackets.
Unemployed respondents were more likely to have taken drugs in the last year (21 per cent compared to 6 per cent of those in employment and 10 per cent of those who were economically inactive 2).
Types of drugs used
Cannabis was by far the most commonly used drug (6 per cent had used cannabis in the last year). All other drugs were used by fewer than 2 per cent of respondents with the next most common being cocaine (1.5 per cent has used in the last year), ecstasy (1.2 per cent), and amphetamines (1 per cent). Only 0.3 per cent of respondents had used heroin and 0.2 per cent had used crack cocaine.
Those offered drugs
As well as examining drug use, the survey also gathered information on whether individuals had been offered particular drugs. Overall, 12 per cent had been offered drugs in the last year. Men were more likely than women to have been offered drugs (15 per cent compared with 9 per cent).
The proportion of respondents who had been offered drugs in the last year decreased with age: 28 per cent of respondents aged between 16 and 29 had been offered drugs as opposed to 5 per cent of those aged 30 and over.
Respondents were far more likely to have been offered cannabis than any other drug.
Awareness of drugs
Awareness of different drugs was very high. Almost all had heard of cannabis (97 per cent) and of cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, amphetamines, LSD, crack and valium (over 90 per cent in each case). Most had also heard of magic mushrooms, anabolic steroids, methadone and temazepam (around 85 per cent in each case). The least known drug was amyl nitrite (or 'poppers') but 70 per cent of respondents had still heard of it.
Attitudes towards drugs and drug-taking
The majority of respondents thought that "a lot of young people take drugs nowadays" and that "young people start taking drugs to keep up with their friends". There was considerable agreement with a statement that "a lot of crimes are committed by people on drugs" but also agreement that "people who have drug problems need help not punishment". There was overwhelming agreement that "injecting drugs is very dangerous", although around one in 7 think that "taking an illegal drug once won't do you any harm".
Perceptions of harm
The regular use of almost any drug was perceived to be very risky, and the use even "once or twice" of most drugs was seen as risky. However, cannabis use was seen as less risky. The regular use of cannabis was seen as less risky than the use "once or twice" of any other drug. Nonetheless, almost half (47 per cent) thought there was a "moderate" or "great" risk from occasional cannabis use and 70 per cent thought there was a "moderate" or "great" risk from regular use.
Perceptions of risk for all drugs varied by age (older respondents perceived the risks to be higher), by sex (women perceived the risks to be slightly higher) and by drug taking history (those who had never taken drugs perceived the risks to be higher than those who had taken drugs, and those who had taken drugs at some point but not in the past year perceived the risks to be higher than those who had taken drugs in the past year).
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