Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England, 2023

C1.1 Smoking and e-cigarette use

All pupils were asked about their cigarette smoking behaviour and e-cigarette use, including whether they had ever smoked cigarettes/used e-cigarettes, and for those that had, the number and how often they smoked/the frequency and length of use of e-cigarettes. Pupils were categorised in three ways based on the responses given:

• Regular smokers/users (defined as usually smoking at least one cigarette per week/using an e-cigarette at least once per week);
• Occasional smokers/users (defined as usually smoking less than one cigarette per week/using an e-cigarette sometimes but less than once per week); or
• Non-smokers/non-users.

C1.2 Alcohol consumption

Pupils were asked about their alcohol use, with current drinkers being defined as pupils who had drunk alcohol at least once a week, once a fortnight, once a month or a few times a year.

C1.3 Drug use

Drug use prevalence measures (ever used / used in last year / used in last month) are derived from the answers to questions on whether they had heard of a drug, had they tried a drug and if so when they had last used the drug, for 16 different drug types (see the table in section C2).

If use of any of the 16 drug types is confirmed by the responses, then they are included as a positive (ever used / used in last year / used in last month), otherwise as a negative (never used).

In the absence of a positive response for any drug type (confirming drug use), if a pupil failed to provide a response for any of the drug types, then that pupil is excluded from the measure. This is because it is not possible to know whether that pupil had or hadn’t taken any of the 16 drug types. This does however create a situation where a non-response to just a single drug type can exclude that pupil from the measure.

Note that if a pupil said that they had not heard of, or not tried that drug, then they do not have to answer any more questions about that particular drug and are recorded as having ‘not used’ that drug.

From 2023, injectable amphetamines (class A) were no longer distinguished from other amphetamines (class B) in the questionnaire. As such all amphetamines are now reported as class B drugs.

The following table lists the specific drugs that pupils were asked about in this survey, and indicates the classification under the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971) and its subsequent amendments.

The Act classifies controlled substances into three categories according to their potential for harm, with Class A drugs considered the most harmful.

• The Class A drugs mentioned in the survey (ecstasy, cocaine, crack, heroin, LSD, magic mushrooms and methadone) are not an exhaustive list of Class A drugs.
• Some drugs are classified according to the method of delivery taken.
• Methylamphetamine (crystal meth), included in the category ‘Speed and other amphetamines’, was reclassified to Class A in all its forms on 18th January 2007. The current questionnaire does not allow a distinction between methylamphetamine and other forms of amphetamines.
• Within the Drugs Act 2005, raw magic mushrooms were classified as Class A drugs; this came into force on 18th July 2005. Previously, magic mushrooms were Class A drugs only if prepared, for example dried or stewed. The survey questionnaire has never made the distinction and magic mushrooms have always been counted as Class A drugs in the analysis.

Table 9: Classification of drugs covered by the survey

Footnotes
1. Amyl nitrite is covered by the Medicines Act 1968; it is legally available on prescription only.
See http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1968/cukpga_19680067_en_1

2. There is some question as to whether these alkyl nitrites, legally available in products such as room deodorants, but also sold by sex shops and other outlets, should be covered by the Medicines Act.
See https://www.drugwise.org.uk/nitrites/

3. For more information on the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, see https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/psychoactive-substances-bill-2015