Skip to main content

Publication, Part of

Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England, 2021

National statistics

Publication Date:
6 Sep 2022
Geographic Coverage:
England
Geographical Granularity:
Regions, Country, Government Office Regions
Date Range:
01 Sep 2021 to 28 Feb 2022
National Statistics

Previous Chapter

Part 9: Young people who have taken drugs

Current Chapter

Part 10: Young people and drugs: the context

View all

Next Chapter

Part 11: Multiple behaviours

Correction to sources of information on drug use data (part 10)

Following the initial publication it was discovered that around half of pupil responses to the question on 'Sources of helpful information about drug use' had been excluded from the results. This was corrected and the affected tables and commentary have been re-issued. 

In Part 10: Young people and drugs: the context, the affected outputs were tables 10.19, 10.20 and 10.21, and the associated chart and commentary in the section on 'Sources of helpful information about drug use'. Though some of the quoted figures changed by 0-3 percentage points, there was no effect to the order of contribution of the most common sources.

4 November 2022 00:00 AM

Page contents

Part 10: Young people and drugs: the context

Introduction

This part sets the context for drug taking among young people.

It looks at:

  • why pupils take drugs.
  • attitudes and perceptions about drug use.
  • where pupils get information about drugs.

Some of the analysis is only based on pupils who said they had taken drugs on more than one occasion. Pupils who had not taken a drug within the last year are excluded as they were not asked on how many occasions they had taken drugs.

Why pupils take drugs

In this section:

  • ‘why taken on first occasion’ is based on pupils who had ever taken drugs
  • ‘why taken on most recent occasion’ is based on pupils who had taken drugs on more than one occasion and at least once in the last year.

Why pupils took drugs on the first and most recent occasion

Pupils could select more than one reason. The category ‘other reasons’ is not shown on the chart. 

There were differences in the reasons pupils gave for taking drugs on the first occasion and on the most recent occasion.

Pupils who took drugs on the first occasion were most likely to say they took them ‘to see what it was like’ (52%), whilst on the most recent occasion they were most likely to say ’to get high or feel good’ (50%).

 

Why pupils took drugs on the first occasion by drug taken (most common reasons)

Pupils taking cannabis, volatile substances or Class A drugs all most commonly gave the reason ‘to see what it was like’.

The reasons ‘to get high or feel good’ and ‘to forget my problems’ were also commonly given by pupils who took cannabis and Class A drugs, but not by those who used volatile substances.

Though never the most common reason, ‘because friends were doing it’ does feature in the top four reasons for all the drug types examined.

Attitudes to taking drugs

Attitudes to people of pupil's own age taking drugs

10% of pupils thought that it was OK for someone their own age to take cannabis to see what it was like, down from 13% in 2018. 9% said they thought it was ok to try sniffing glue, and 3% to try cocaine.

There was lower tolerance of regular drug use (taking once a week); 6% of pupils thought it was OK for cannabis, 3% for sniffing glue, and 1% for cocaine, similar levels to 2018.

 

Attitudes to people of pupil's age taking drugs, by age

The proportion of pupils who thought it was OK for someone their age to try drugs increased with age, as did the proportion who thought it was OK to take cannabis once a week (not shown on chart).

25% of 15 year olds thought it was OK to try cannabis, and 14% thought it was OK to use it once a week.

 

Perceived number of people of pupils’ age who take drugs (15 year old's only)

78% of 15 year olds thought that none or only a few people their own age took drugs; prevalence of drug use amongst 15 year olds in the last year, as reported in this survey, was 24%.

8% of 15 year olds significantly overestimated drug use by pupils their own age (those who thought most or all people their own age took drugs in the last year).

Sources of helpful information about drug use

Sources from which pupils have obtained helpful information about drug use

Pupils could give more than one answer for this measure.

Pupils were most likely to have obtained helpful information about drug use from parents (67%) and teachers (64%). Other people from whom pupils got helpful information were other relatives (40%), friends (39%) and police in schools (38%).

Of the different forms of media, the internet was the most popular source of helpful information about drug use (54%), followed by TV (49%), then social media (47%).

Last edited: 4 October 2023 2:20 pm

Previous Chapter

Part 9: Young people who have taken drugs

Next Chapter

Part 11: Multiple behaviours