Fewer ninth-grade students have tried cannabis
The share of ninth-grade students who have ever tried smoking cannabis has been halved over the past decades. In 1999, nearly one in four students had experience with cannabis. In 2024, this applies to only about one in eight.
This is shown by a new report from the Danish National Institute of Public Health, based on the Danish part of the European survey ESPAD (European School Survey on Alcohol and Other Drugs). Since the mid-1990s, the survey has tracked young people’s use of substances in Europe. In the most recent round, nearly 5,500 ninth-grade students in Denmark responded to questions about, among other things, cannabis and other drugs.
In 1999, 24 per cent of students said that they had at some point tried smoking cannabis. In 2024, the share has fallen to 12 per cent. However, the development has not been uniformly downward. Between 2015 and 2019, the proportion who had tried cannabis increased, but since 2019 the figures have declined again.
“Overall, we see a clear decline in the share of young people who have experience with cannabis when we look at developments over almost 30 years. This is in itself a positive trend, because cannabis use can have serious health consequences,” says senior adviser Ola Ekholm from the Danish National Institute of Public Health, one of the researchers behind the report.
He points out that cannabis use is generally more serious for young people than for adults. This is mainly because the brain is still developing during the teenage years and is not fully developed until well into the twenties.
Studies suggest that frequent cannabis use during adolescence can, among other things, lead to cognitive problems such as reduced learning ability and memory difficulties, mental disorders, as well as an increased risk of airway irritation and reduced lung capacity.
Greater focus on health
According to Ola Ekholm, the decline in young people’s cannabis use may be due to several factors, including increased awareness of the health consequences of cannabis use, which has changed norms among young people.
“At the same time, preventive initiatives in schools and campaigns have probably had an effect, and many young people today place a high priority on health and performance. Changes in young people’s leisure activities may also be a factor. Young people today spend more time online and more time with their parents, which means that social situations where cannabis typically plays a role have become fewer,” he says.
In addition, students experience that it has become more difficult to obtain cannabis. According to Ola Ekholm, this may also influence how many end up trying it.
In 1999, 57 per cent of ninth-grade students assessed that they could obtain cannabis very easily or easily if they were interested. In 2024, this share has fallen to 41 per cent.
The report also shows that there are regional differences in the availability of cannabis. It is particularly young people in the Capital Region who assess that they can easily obtain cannabis, while it is perceived as more difficult for young people in, for example, the Central Denmark Region.
Lower use of several substances – but some exceptions
Postdoctoral researcher Heidi Rosendahl has contributed to the report. She points out that the development in cannabis use is part of a broader picture in which fewer young people today generally have experience with illicit drugs. For example, the share of students who have ever used amphetamine, methamphetamine, ecstasy or cocaine has declined since the late 1990s.
However, the use of certain other substances has increased.
“Although fewer young people smoke cannabis and use hard drugs, we see that some instead use other substances. This particularly applies to alcohol, which still remains at a high level, and in recent years there has also been a sharp increase in the proportion using e-cigarettes and vapes since these products entered the market. This underlines that developments are not moving in one single direction, but that young people’s substance use changes character over time,” she explains.
There have also been smaller increases in the use of nitrous oxide, which has risen from 3 to 5 per cent in the period 2019–2024.
Differences between boys and girls
The young people in the report have also answered questions about how risky they believe cannabis use is. Nearly half of the students state that there is no or only a small risk associated with trying cannabis once or twice. This view is particularly common among boys: 51 per cent compared with 45 per cent of girls.
“Overall, there are clear gender differences. Boys, for example, also experience easier access to cannabis, and they have higher levels of use, and this has been the case in all years, including 2024, when we see a decline among both boys and girls. Here, 14 per cent of boys have tried cannabis, compared with 10 per cent of girls,” says Heidi Rosendahl.
The report is funded by the framework agreement between the Ministry of the Interior and Health and the Danish National Institute of Public Health.
Contact:
Senior adviser Ola Ekholm, tel.: +45 65 50 77 72, e-mail: oek@sdu.dk
Postdoctoral researcher Heidi Rosendahl, tel.: +45 65 50 77 92, e-mail: harj@sdu.dk