Designer drugs most popular among Hungarian students in the EU

The new ESPAD Report is here with some shocking revelations about the substance use of Hungarian students aged 15-16. To summarise, they are at the forefront in terms of smoking and drinking. They smoke fewer cigarettes but do more illicit drugs than they used to.

The  European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) is a cross-sectional study of substance use and other forms of risk behaviour among students in Europe aged 15-16 years.

Results of the latest ESPAD reveal that almost all Hungarian participants have tried alcohol, ¼ of them smoke cigarettes regularly, and over ¼ of them have tried some type of illicit drug. Hungarian students also came in first in designer drug use, 24 reports.

Methodology

The ESPAD’s target population are students who reach the age of 16 in the calendar year of the survey. The study looks at students who are enrolled in regular, vocational, general, or academic studies and who are present in the classroom on the day of the survey. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires. All countries used a paper-and-pencil questionnaire except for Austria, Denmark, France, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Norway, where students answered a web-based questionnaire, and the Faroes and Italy used a mixed administration mode.

Cigarette Use

Students reported that cigarettes are the easiest to come by, despite the legal age to even enter a “national tobacco shop.” Six out of ten respondents have tried a cigarette before. Interestingly, the ratio was higher among girls. On average, students reported having smoked their first cigarette at the age of 14.

About one-fourth of the students smoke regularly. Here, the ratio is higher among boys than girls. E-cigarettes are also getting more and more popular: 60% of boys and 50% of the girls have tried it.