‘Legal highs’ in Poland

Michał

KidawaNational Focal Point Poland - National Bureau for Drug Prevention, Poland

International Conference on SPICE prevention issues25-26 September 2012,

Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Research of legal highs – Youth 2008, 2010

Method:• Representative national sample of last classes of

secondary schools (age ~ 18-19) (N=1250 students)• Two editions : 2008 and 2010• Class room survey - self-administered

questionnaires

Lifetime use of drugs among pupils – ages 18 - 19 (%)

CBOS 2008CBOS 2008

35,7

6,8

2,8

3,3

2,3

1,4

1,6

3,5

3,4

1,3

11,4

3

2,6

9

2,9

2,3

2,2

0,8

1,1

1,3

5,5

3,5

1

4,8

2,1

19,9

1,9

4,7

1,3

30,5

21,8

3,6

0,93,2

0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40

Cannabis

Tranquilizers and sedatives

Amphetamine

Inhalants

LSD

Cocaine

Relevin

Polish heroine „kompot”

Heroine

Ecstasy

Magic mushrooms

GHB

Cough syrups

Legal highs „dopalacze”

DXM

poppers

Salvia divinorum

2010 2008

Occasional use (last 12 months) of drugs among pupils age 18 – 19 (%)

CBOS 2008CBOS 2008

18

3

0,7

1,4

0,7

0,4

0,5

1,4

2

2,2

7,2

1,3

11,2

3,7

1

1,3

0,4

0,6

0,8

3

1,4

1,9

2,6

0,2

2,4

9,6

0,6

2,2

0,3

16,4

1,1

1,9

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Cannabis

Tranquilizers and sedatives

Amphetamine

Inhalants

LSD

Cocaine

Relevin

Polish heroine „kompot”

Heroine

Ecstasy

Magic mushrooms

GHB

Cough syrups

Legal highs „dopalacze”

DXM

poppers

2010 2008

Recent use of drugs (last 30 days) among pupils age 18 – 19 (%)

7,7

1,1

1,1

0,8

4,7

1,5

1,5

1,1

3,8

7,3

0 2 4 6 8 10

Cannabis

Tranquilizers and sedatives

Amphetamine

Legal highs „dopalacze”

Ecstasy 2010 2008

Use of „legal highs” among pupils age 18-19

Lifetime 12 months 30 days

3,5

11,4

2,6

7,2

1,5 1,1

20082010

Smart shop Smart shop closed down closed down

-- October October 20102010

Purchasing

90% of respondents heard about „legal highs”. 27% were in smart shops (n=297).

From respondents who were in smartshops, 40% purchased “legal highs” (n=120)

Only 1 % purchased “legal highs” via internet.

Purchasing

77,5

14,1 11,7 8,30

1020304050607080

Herbalmixtures

Powder Pills/capsules

Other

ESPAD 2011

• European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Drugs

• Random sample of school classes (third class of gymnasium (15-16 y.o) and second class of high school (17-18 y.o.)

• Standardized self administrated questionnaire in classroom

• Sample size: 15-16 y.o. – N= 2623 , 17-18 y.o. – N= 2693

Lifetime drug use prevalence 15-16 y.o.(ESPAD)

2

16 16

8

42 2 1

3 2

16

24

9

53 3

13 33 2

1 1 13

19

10 10

6

97

43

18

23

1517

19

9

6

3 3 32

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Tran

quili

zers

and

seda

tives

Can

nabi

s

Inha

lant

s

Am

phet

amin

e

LSD

Coc

aine

Her

oine

Ecst

asy

Ana

bolic

ster

oids

1995 1999 2003 2007 2011

Lifetime drug use prevalence 17-18 y.o.(ESPAD)

3,5

36,7

15,4

19

6,8

2,7 1,74,2

16,8

37,3

5,63,9

1,2

5

0,6

7,9

2,8 2,74,0

20,8

17,1

0,8 0,6

20,8 22,4

10,5

1,8

6,8

2,7 2,65,46,3

4,22,4 2,2

5,8

20,1

3,52,5 3,5

7,8

27,9

3,2

8,3

3,9

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Tran

quili

zers

and

seda

tives

Can

nabi

s

Inha

lant

s

Am

phet

amin

e

LSD

Coc

aine

Her

oine

Ecst

asy

Ana

bolic

ster

oids

1995 1999 2003 2007 2011

Cannabis use 15-16 y.o.

24

20

11

19

15

10

1416

1512

7

1011

3

7 8

46

0

10

20

30

1995 1999 2003 2005 2007 2011

Odsetki badanych

Lifetime

Last 12month

Last 30days

Cannabis use 17-18 y.o.

37

29

15

37

22

17

3228

26

17

10

23

17

3

9

1311 10

0

10

20

30

40

1995 1999 2003 2005 2007 2011

Odsetki badanych

Lifetime

Last 12month

Last 30days

Legal highs

15-16 y.o. Heard about legal highs 93,7%

Visited smart shops 15,3%

Purchase legal highs 8,0%

17-18 y.o. Heard about legal highs 94,9%

Visited smart shops 21,6%

Purchase legal highs 11,6%

„Legal highs” - purchasing

15-16 y.o. In the smart shop 5,9%

Via internet 1,7%

Other 4,4%

17-18 y.o. In the smart shop 10,3%

Via internet 1,7%

Other 3,9%

„Legal highs” - use

15-16 y.o. Lifetime 10,5%

Last 12 months 7,1%

Last 30 days 2,5%

17-18 y.o. Lifetime 15,8%

Last 12 months 9,0%

Last 30 days 2,2%

Study on low threshold services clients – Polish-French project (2008-2010)

• All clients of low threshold services using the services in the period of two weeks (N=398)

• Clients coded – double counting eliminated• Questionnaire administrated with client“on the

scene” by street workers.

Prevalence of last 30 days use of psychoactive substances among low threshold services clients – Polish-French research project (2010)

45,2

33,4

35,9

4

5,3

60,1

12,1

9,5

47,7

1,3

2

10,3

43,7

73,4

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Heroine

"kompot"

Methadone

Buprenorfine

Cocaine

Amphetamine

Ecstasy

Barbiturans

Benzodiazepins

LSD

Hallucinogens

Cannabis

Mephedrone

Alcohol

N = 398

Medical interventions due to „legal highs” reported to

National Consultant in Clinical Toxicology

Source: dr.n.med. Piotr Burda, National Consultant in Clinical Toxicology

30

70

123

258

60

2118 9 141612 6 12 5 13202625251416 9 1611 8

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

07

.10

08

.10

09

.10

10

.10

11

.10

12

.10

01

.11

02

.11

.

03

.11

04

.11

05

.11

06

.11

07

.11

08

.11

09

.11

10

.11

11

.11

12

.11

01

.12

02

.12

03

.12

04

.12

05

.12

06

.12

07

.12

New psychoactive substances reported to Polish EWS 2011-2012 by groups

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

2011 2012

PiperazinesCathinonesPhenetylaminesCannabinoidsTryptaminesOther substances

Source: NFPP

Thanks for your attentionmichal.kidawa@kbpn.gov.pl