Publication, Part of Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England
Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England, 2023
National statistics, Accredited official statistics
Correction to school lessons and guidance (part 12)
Following the initial publication it was discovered that teacher responses from volunteer schools had not been excluded from the analysis (see Appendix A8 for information about volunteer schools). This was corrected and the affected tables and commentary have been re-issued including only teacher responses from sampled schools.
Only Part 12: School lessons and guidance was affected, specifically tables 12.4, 12.5, 12.6, 12.7, 12.8, 12.9 and 12.10, and the associated charts and commentary in the sections 'Frequency of lessons about tobacco, alcohol and drugs' and 'Lesson contributors and sources of information used to prepare lessons'. Though some of the quoted figures changed by 0-5 percentage points, there was no effect to the order of the most common contributors and sources of information to lessons.
13 February 2025 17:00 PM
Part 9: Young people who have taken drugs
Introduction
This part focuses further on the behaviour of pupils who have taken drugs at least once.
Topics covered include:
- from whom pupils get drugs
- where pupils were when they got drugs
- with whom they took them
- ease of obtaining drugs.
Some of the analysis, looking at most recent occasion of drug use, is only based on pupils who said they had taken drugs on more than one occasion.
From whom pupils got drugs
From whom pupils got drugs on the first occasion, by type of drug (grouped)
On the first occasion they tried drugs, 42% said they had got the drugs from a friend, most of these being from a friend of the same age. 60% of pupils who only took cannabis on the first occasion, got it from a friend.
Overall 11% said they got drugs from a dealer. 18% of pupils who took a class A drug on the first occasion got it from a dealer.
4% of pupils said they got drugs from a shop, with these mostly involving volatile substances.
Only selected responses for whom the pupil got drugs are shown in the chart below (see table 9.1 for the full list of responses).
From whom pupils got drugs on the most recent occasion
Analyses in this section are based on pupils who have taken drugs on more than one occasion.
As with the first occasion, drugs taken on the most recent occasion were most commonly obtained from friends. 39% of pupils said that they had got drugs from any friend, which is significantly lower than in 2021 (51%).
17% of pupils said they got drugs from a dealer (a significant decrease from 26% in 2021), and 21% said that had got drugs from someone else (a significant increase from 5% in 2021).
For more data relating to this section:
Tables 9.1 to 9.8, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2023
Where pupils get drugs
Where pupils got drugs on the most recent occasion
Analysis is based on pupils who have taken drugs on more than one occasion.
32% of pupils said they were outdoors (in a street, park or other outdoor area) when they last obtained drugs, although this has significantly decreased from 45% in 2021.
23% of pupils obtained drugs from somewhere else (a significant increase from 2% in 2021), and 11% of pupils obtained drugs whilst at school (a significant increase from 5% in 2021).
For more data relating to this section:
Tables 9.9 to 9.12, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2023
With whom pupils take drugs
With whom pupils took drugs on the most recent occasion
Analysis is based on pupils who have taken drugs on more than one occasion.
61% of pupils said they were with a friend(s) when they last took drugs, although this has significantly decreased from 72% in 2021.
19% said they took drugs alone on the most recent occasion, the same proportion as in 2021, whilst 12% of pupils said they took drugs with someone else (not friends or relatives), a significant increase from 1% in 2021.
For more data relating to this section:
Tables 9.13 to 9.16, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2023
Perceived ease of getting illegal drugs
Perceived ease of getting illegal drugs, by age
Analysis is based on all pupils. The 'Easy’ category included pupils who perceived it ‘very easy’ or ‘fairly easy’ to get drugs; the ‘Difficult’ category includes pupils who perceived it ‘very difficult’ or ‘fairly difficult’ to get drugs.
25% of pupils perceived it to be easy to get illegal drugs, a similar proportion to 2021 (26%).
The proportion who thought it would be easy to get drugs increased with age; 44% of 15 year olds thought it would be easy to get illegal drugs, compared with 9% of 11 year olds.
For more data relating to this section:
Tables 9.17 and 9.19, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2023
Last edited: 13 February 2025 4:59 pm