Prevalence of illicit drug use among youth: results from the Australian school students' alcohol and drugs survey

Objective:To estimate the prevalence of illicit drug use among Australian s econdary school students. Method: Data was collected as part of the Australian School Students Alcoho l and Drugs Survey, a national survey of 29,447 secondary school students. Results: Of all students aged 12-17 years, 39.9% (44.1% of males and 35.9% of females) reported having used at least one illicit drug in their lifetim e. Cannabis was the most widely used illicit drug with 36.4% of all student s reporting having used cannabis. Substantially fewer students reported usi ng other drugs: hallucinogens (8.6%), amphetamines (6.1%), cocaine (3.6%), ecstasy (3.6%), opiates (3.7%) and steroids (1.8%). There were clear gender and age differences in the prevalence of illicit drug use: more mates than females reported illicit drug use and the lifetime prevalence of illicit d rug use increased with age. Most of those who reported illicit drug use had used drugs on relatively few occasions although there was a small minority of the sample who reported more frequent use. Finally, there were strong a ssociation between regular cannabis use and the use of other illicit drugs in the past year, and moderate associations between illicit drug use and th e extent of both tobacco and alcohol use. Conclusions: The findings of this, the first national survey of illicit dru g use among Australian school students, indicate a high prevalence of illic it drug use. Comparisons with previous regionally based surveys suggest the re may have been a recent increase in the prevalence of cannabis use and hi ghlight the need For further monitoring of and prevention efforts aimed at reducing illicit drug use among students.