Pick ‘n’ Mix: changing patterns of illicit drug use amongst 1990s adolescents

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Abstract
A follow up self report questionnaire survey of drug use amongst 752 15–16 year olds was conducted at the end of 1992. 71% of this representative sample from north west England reported having been in ‘offer’ situations where drugs were available. Nearly half (47%) has tried an illicit drug, most often cannabis, followed by LSD. These rates are substantially higher than those recorded during the 1980s amongst this age group. A further change concerns young women who, in this survey, were equally as likely to have been in offer situations and tried illicit drugs as young men. Social class differences are also reducing with drug triers only slightly more likely to come from working class backgrounds than middle class. These changes suggest that the illegal drugs economy has meshed with the legal economy in the social space young people frequent and that a process of normalisation is underway in respect of adolescent recreational drug use. This social transformation has significance for the criminal justice system, health education programmes and planning for future drugs services.

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