Smoking and vaping among vocational students
The Vocational Education Substance Use Monitor shows that the use of vapes among vocational students aged 16 to 18 increased sharply between 2021 and 2023. In 2021, 39% of vocational students had ever used a vape, and daily use stood at just over 1%. In 2023, this had risen to 47% for ever having used a vape and 8% for daily use. Tobacco smoking did not change during this period; in 2023, 16% of vocational students smoked daily.
A considerable proportion of students use multiple nicotine products. Overall, 22% of students said they had smoked cigarettes or vaped in the past month, and 17% had done both. Vocational students aged 16 and 17 smoke and vape almost twice as often as peers in mainstream secondary education.
Furthermore, 12% of vocational students said they had ever used nicotine pouches, and 8% had ever used heated tobacco. Daily use of these nicotine products is relatively low (1.2% and 0.9%, respectively). However, because nicotine is addictive, it is important to continue monitoring developments in the use of new tobacco and other nicotine products.
Boys drink large amounts of alcohol more often
In 2023, 62% of vocational students aged 16 to 18 had consumed alcohol in the past month. This percentage has remained virtually unchanged since 2015. Approximately equal numbers of girls and boys had consumed alcohol in the past month. However, boys more often drank more than 10 glasses on a drinking day than girls (27% versus 8% of the students who had consumed alcohol in the past month). It is also notable that 16-year-old vocational students drink alcohol more often and in larger quantities than students in secondary education. For example, almost 18% of 16-year-old vocational students who drink consumed more than 10 glasses of alcohol in one day during the weekend, compared with just over 10% of students in secondary education.
Drug use among vocational students: less cannabis and nitrous oxide, more 3-MMC
The percentage of vocational students aged 16 to 18 who had ever used cannabis fell from 32% to 26% between 2015 and 2023. Use in the past month remained unchanged during that period, fluctuating around 13%. The percentage of vocational students who had used nitrous oxide in the past month fell further, to 12% in 2023. The number of nitrous oxide balloons used per occasion has also declined in recent years. In 2021, 91% of students who had used nitrous oxide in the past month had used more than one balloon per occasion. In 2023, this was 77%.
Of all vocational students aged 16 and over, 4.7% had used 3-MMC in the past year. Between 2021 and 2023, the percentage of vocational students aged 16 to 18 who had ever used 3-MMC doubled, from 2.1% to 4.4%. The use of 4-MMC also doubled during that period, from 1.2% to 2.4%. This sharp increase in the use of 3-MMC and 4-MMC also emerged in The Major Nightlife Survey. Because of the risk of addiction and health risks such as palpitations, anxiety, and insomnia, it is important to continue monitoring the emergence of these substances and other New Psychoactive Substances (NPS).
1 in 16 vocational students uses sleeping pills and sedatives without a doctor’s prescription
Almost twice as many female (8%) as male (4.5%) vocational students reported having used sleeping pills or sedatives without a doctor’s prescription in the past year. They were asked about substances such as oxazepam and temazepam, but students may also have included the use of over-the-counter products such as valerian or melatonin.
The 2023 factsheet on substance use among vocational students also addresses quitting smoking and the purchasing behavior of vocational students with regard to cigarettes, alcohol, and cannabis. The factsheet also contains figures on the use of other drugs such as ecstasy, cocaine, and ketamine.