The factsheet examines smoking and the use of alcohol, drugs and nitrous oxide in 2019, describes use by age and different types of education, and compares the results with the previous measurements from 2015 and 2017.

Current figures and trends in substance use

Tobacco use decreased in 2019 compared with 2017. This applies to having ever smoked, smoking in the past month and daily smoking. The greatest decrease can be seen among 16- and 17-year-olds. In 2019, 45 percent of 16- to 18-year-old students in MBO and HBO had ever smoked, a quarter had smoked in the past month and more than one in ten (11 percent) smoked daily. In 2019, 80% of students (aged 16 to 18 in MBO and HBO) had ever consumed alcohol, a decrease compared with 2017 (85 percent). At 68 percent, alcohol use in the past month had not decreased significantly. Of the students who drink, nearly one in five (19 percent) consume more than 10 glasses on a weekend day.

Compared with 2015, MBO and HBO students used fewer drugs; lifetime use of cannabis (from 33 to 29 percent), hard drugs and ecstasy in particular decreased (from 10 to 7 percent). Lifetime cannabis use is 29 percent among students aged 16 to 18, and 13% had used cannabis in the past month. Nearly one-third (31 percent) of recent cannabis users had sometimes smoked during school hours; among 16-year-old MBO students, this was as high as 40 percent. With 7 percent reporting lifetime use, ecstasy is the most commonly used hard drug among MBO and HBO students; 3 percent had also used it in the past month.

Drug use has decreased slightly; this does not apply to the use of nitrous oxide. Since 2015, lifetime use has increased from 20 to 30 percent, and use in the past month also rose from 5 to 8 percent. Lifetime use of nitrous oxide is therefore now higher than that of cannabis.

Differences between secondary education, MBO and HBO

A comparison of secondary-school pupils and MBO and HBO students shows that MBO students smoke more often and consume more alcohol at weekends.
Among 17-year-old MBO students, 25 percent had smoked in the past month and more than 10 percent smoked daily, while among their peers in secondary education and HBO these figures were 18 percent and 3-4 percent, respectively. In addition, 17-year-old drinkers in MBO consume 10 or more glasses on a weekend day almost twice as often as students in the other types of education (21 percent versus 11 percent).

A comparison of 18-year-old MBO and HBO students shows similar differences: more than twice as many daily smokers in MBO (16 percent) as in HBO (7 percent). At this age, 20 percent of drinking MBO students consume 10 or more glasses on a weekend day, compared with 15 percent of drinking HBO students. Similar differences can also be seen in current use of e-cigarettes, hookahs and ecstasy.

It is striking that lifetime cannabis use is higher among secondary-school pupils than among MBO and HBO students, while there are no differences in nitrous oxide use between young people in different types of education.

Quitting smoking

Three-quarters of the current smokers in this study have tried to quit smoking at some point, but almost none of the students use any aid in doing so. They do it on their own. Various initiatives are under way to better tailor smoking cessation interventions to young people. It is possible that young people do not yet know how to find these interventions sufficiently well or underestimate the usefulness of such aids.

Objectives of the National Prevention Agreement

One of the objectives of the National Prevention Agreement is a smoke-free generation and reducing alcohol use among young people under 18. In light of these objectives, it is good news that tobacco use has decreased. Nevertheless, 45 percent had still smoked a cigarette at some point. In this context, the fact that one in five drinkers consumes more than ten glasses on a weekend day also presents a major challenge.

The MBO-HBO monitor is conducted on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. Data collection took place in the autumn of 2019.

Peilstations study

Also read the results of the Peilstations Study Parents 2019 by the Trimbos Institute, a four-yearly study of parents’ views on substance use among young people and what they do in parenting to prevent substance use.

Helder op school

Would you like to devote more attention at your school to preventing smoking and the use of alcohol and drugs, as well as excessive gaming? Or are you going to work on the theme of smoking, alcohol and drug prevention within the Healthy School programme? There are programmes for secondary (special) education through to MBO, HBO and WO. Click here for more information.