T1.1.1 Cannabis Use in the General Population Andreja Drev
Lifetime prevalence of cannabis use
According to the data from the Survey on the Use of Tobacco, Alcohol and Other Drugs, conducted in 2011 and 2012 by the National Institute of Public Health on a representative sample of Slovenian population, cannabis has been used in their lifetime by 15.8% of inhabitants of Slovenia aged between 15 and 64. The lifetime prevalence of cannabis use is statistically significantly higher among men (19.5%) than women (11.8%). In age groups 15-24 years (27.3%) and 25-34 years (29.7%), the lifetime prevalence of cannabis use is statistically significantly higher than in all other age groups (35-44 years 14.5%, 45-54 years 7.5% and 55-64 years 2.5%). In view of education and activity status, the share of cannabis use is the highest among persons with higher or postgraduate education (19.8% compared to 14.8% among persons with secondary education, 11.1 % among persons with elementary education or less) and among inhabitants included in the education process (29.3% compared to 19.9% among the unemployed, 15.5% among employed persons and 1.5% among retired persons) (Lavtar et al. 2014).
Last year prevalence of cannabis use
Cannabis has been used in the last year by 4.4% of inhabitants of Slovenia aged between 15 and 64.
The 12-month prevalence of cannabis use is statistically significantly higher among men (5.9%) than women (4.4%). In age group 15-24 years (15.0%), the 12-month prevalence of cannabis use is statistically significantly higher than in all other age groups (25-34 years 6.9%, 35-44 years 1.7%, 45-54 years 0.8%, and 55-64 years 0.2%).
Last month prevalence of cannabis use
Cannabis has been used in the last month by 2.3% of inhabitants of Slovenia aged between 15 and 64.
The 30-day prevalence of cannabis use is statistically significantly higher among men (3.3%) than women (1.2%). In age group 15-24 years (7.5%), the 30-day prevalence of cannabis use is statistically significantly higher than in all other age groups (25-34 years 3.7%, 35-44 years 1.0%, 45-54 years 0.4%, and 55-64 years 0.1%).
T1.1.2 Cannabis Use in Schools and Other Sub-populations Andreja Drev
Data on drug use in the Slovenian school environment are obtained using two international studies, i.e.
the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (hereinafter ESPAD) and the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Survey (hereinafter HBSC).
According to the data from the last Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC 2014) survey,
used it in the last year and 10.3% used in the last month. Gender data reveal that cannabis is more widespread among boys than girls, since the share of use is statistically significantly higher in boys than in girls under all three indicators (Table 1) (Koprivnikar 2015).
Table 1. Lifetime, last year and in last month prevalence of marijuana (cannabis in 2014) use in 15-year-olds, total and by gender, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014
Share (in %) Lifetime Last year Last month
* The difference between 2002 and 2006 is statistically significant.
* The difference between 2006 and 2010 is statistically significant.
Source: National Institute of Public Health, HBSC 2010, HBSC 2014
Trends are available for the period between 2002 and 2010, since adolescents were asked only about marijuana use in 2002, 2006 and 2010, while the question was set more broadly in 2014 and referred to the use of cannabis, hence marijuana as well as hashish.
The data reveal that the share of 15-year-olds using/smoking marijuana at some point during lifetime and the share of 15-year-olds using/smoking marijuana at least 3 times in the last year statistically significantly decreased in the period between 2002 and 2010. In the same period, a statistically significant drop was detected in the number of girls who tried marijuana at some point in their lives, while no statistically significant differences were noted in boys throughout the period. In last year use, a statistically significant decrease was recorded among all 15-year-olds as well as boys and girls separately.
Although data on marijuana use between 2002 and 2010 reveal a statistically significant declining trend in the share of 15-year-olds who have tried marijuana in their lifetime or in the last year, a detailed review of individual periods shows that this share fell significantly only between 2002 and 2006, while unfavourable rising trends were detected between 2006 and 2010 (Figures 1 and 2) (Bajt 2013).
Figure 1. Lifetime prevalence of marijuana use in 15-year-olds, total and by gender, in 2002, 2006 and 2010
Source: National institute of Public Health, HBSC 2010 0
Figure 2. Last year prevalence of marijuana use (at least 3 times) in 15-year-olds, total and by gender, in 2002, 2006 and 2010
Source: National institute of Public Health, HBSC 2010
According to the data from the European survey on alcohol and other drugs from 2011, cannabis has been used in their lifetime by 23% of the Slovenian 16-year-olds included in the survey, 19% of them had used cannabis in the year preceding the survey, while 10% had used it in the month preceding the survey (Stergar and Urdih Lazar 2014). Cannabis use was more widespread among boys than girls, as 26% of boys and 21% of girls reported a lifetime use of cannabis (Hibell et al. 2012).
Trend: in the period between 1995 and 1999, cannabis use increased more than in the period between 1999 and 2003, but recorded a statistically significant drop in the 2003-2007 period, while the situation was stable in 2011 (Stergar and Urdih Lazar 2014).
ESPAD 2015
Tanja Urdih Lazar, Eva Stergar
As shown by the results of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD), ever since 1995, the first year of the survey, cannabis has been and continues to be the most widely used illicit drug both among Slovenia's adult population as well as 15- to 16-year-olds. In the last edition of the survey, in 2015, one-fifth of the participating secondary school students aged 15 to 16 reported using cannabis at least once in their lifetime, with boys (25.9%) making up a slightly larger share to girls (23.8%). The gender difference is statistically significant (χ2=14.578, df=6, p˂0.02), albeit small (V=0.07, p˂0.02). Based on this data, Slovenia ranks high above the average among the countries taking part in the ESPAD project, where the lifetime use of cannabis in 2015 averaged 16%, 19% among boys and 14% among girls. 4% of Slovenian secondary school students use cannabis regularly, 2.8% are girls and 5.2% boys.
In Slovenia, one in five respondents used cannabis in the last 12 months, whereas the average for the ESPAD countries is one in eight. 12% of the participating secondary school students used cannabis in the last 30 days before the survey, with boys slightly outnumbering girls, while the average for the ESPAD countries was much lower, a mere 7%.
Changes in the lifetime use of cannabis in the period from 1995 to 2015 are statistically significant (χ2=251.058, df=30, p˂0.0001, V=0.05). The marked increase between the years 1995 and 1999 was followed by a steady upward trend until 2003 and later a significant drop in 2007; since then the figure has been found to increase again. In 2015, fewer participants than would have been expected by chance reported not having used cannabis during their lifetime.
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Table 2. Lifetime cannabis use in the years 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015, ESPAD, Slovenia
Year Lifetime
Male Female Total
1995 14.4 11.8 13.2
1999 26.7 22.7 24.9
2003 30.7 26.1 28.4
2007 24.0 19.9 22.0
2011 26.0 20.9 23.4
2015 25.9 23.8 24.8
Source: University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Institute of Occupational, Traffic and Sports Medicine, ESPAD 2015