THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF DRUGS AS PERCEIVED BY THE SPANISH PUBLIC

A regional survey on peoples' attitudes towards drugs was conducted in the fall of 1992 on 2500 individuals aged 14-70 years. The great majo rity of those surveyed considered the taking of heroin (98%), cocaine (95.9%) and amphetamines (94.7%) to be ''very risky'' for one's health . These percentages were considerably lower in the case of tobacco (41 .3%) and alcohol (26.7%). Those surveyed pointed to 'heroin' (35.6%), 'all illegal drugs' (27%), 'legal drugs' (17.2%) and 'cocaine' (14.2%) as the most dangerous drugs for society. The study shows how alcohol and tobacco are perceived by Spaniards as less dangerous than illegal drugs.