Cannabis use and drug related problems among adolescents in 27 European countries: The
utility of the prevention paradox
Sammanfattning
AIMS - To study the prevalence of cannabis use and drug-related problems among European
adolescents and the utility of the prevention paradox. METHODS - Survey data from the European
School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) in 2007 in the 27 countries with
information
about drug use and drug-related problems was used. We analysed the proportion of all
drug-related problems that occurred in a high risk group and among others who had used cannabis
in the previous 12 months. The cut-off for the high risk group was chosen to include 10-15 %
of the most frequent cannabis users. RESULTS - The high risk groups accounted for a substantial,
but a minority, of drug-related problems among boys as well as girls. A minority of those who
had used cannabis reported any drug-related problem. The proportion of adolescents with drugrelated
problems and the average number of problems increased with frequency of cannabis use.
CONCLUSIONS - We find support for policy measures of more general character, supported by
the prevention paradox. However, this does not exclude a policy supporting frequent drug users
if they can be identified