The acceptability of illicit drug use in the Netherlands and Norway: a comparative study [preliminary results]

1
The acceptability of illicit drug use in the
Netherlands and Norway a comparative
studypreliminary results

• Rosalie van der Sar1, Einar Ødegard2, Evelien
  Brouwers1,
• Ien van de Goor1, Jostein Rise2, Henk Garretsen1
• 1 Tilburg University, Faculty of Social and
  Behavioral Sciences,
• Tranzo, The Netherlands
• 2 Sirus, The Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and
  Drugs Research,
• Norway

Alcohol and Drug Researchers Assembly,
Reykjavik, August 2010
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Overview

• Introduction
• Research question
• Preleminary results
• Discussion
• Conclusion?!

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Introduction

Acceptability
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Why of interest?
Prevalence
Policy
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Lifetime prevalence
Netherlands 1 Norway2
Cannabis 23 16,2
Other drugs 6,1 3,8
1 Rodenburg, G., Spijkerman, R., van den Eijnden,
R., van de Mheen, D. (2007). Nationaal
Prevalentie Onderzoek Middelengebruik 2005
National Prevalence Survey Substance Use 2005.
Rotterdam IVO. 2 Norwegian Institute for Alcohol
and Drugs Research. (2005). The drug situation in
Norway 2005. Annual report to the EMCDDA.
OsloSirus
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Policy

• Netherlands
• Cannabis use is tolerated

• Norway
• Zero-tolerance

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Dutch drug policy

• Possession, trade and production of drugs are
  illegal
• Drug use is not an illegal offence
• Prevention and health education are an
  essentional part of Dutch public health policy
  focus on youngsters.
• Distinction between hard and soft drugs based on
  health risks
• Coffee shops are tolerated to protect citizins
  against the use of hard drugs

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Criteria coffee shops

• No advertising
• No hard drugs sales
• No causing any nuisance
• No access to coffee shops/sale of soft drugs
  under 18 years
• No sales of more than 5 grams per transaction per
  person

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Hypothesis

• Expect a difference in acceptability

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Methods

• Cross-sectional internetsurvey
• Fall 2008
• Cases N 5616 and N2150
• Opinion measured on 5 and 7 point Likert scale
• Compared cannabis, cocaine and heroin
• T-tests and Mann Witney U tests

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How measured? Beliefs about acceptability

• The fact that . is used, ought to be accepted in
  Norway/Netherlands
• . is come to stay in Norway/Netherlands
• Use of . is accepted by many
• In my opinion it is acceptable when my friends
  use . once in a while
• There is too strong regulation on in
  Norway/Netherlands
• The legal system should (still) differentiate
  between cannabis and stronger drugs

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How measured? opinion policy measures

1. Drug use should be legal
2. Cannabis use must be prohibited
3. Use of other sorts of drugs must be prohibited

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Sample characteristics
Netherlands () Norway ()
Age 46.7 43.6
Men 45.8 51.5
Illicit drug lifetime use
Cannabis 19.0 16.0
Cocaine 3.4 3.4
Heroin 0.7 0.6
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T-test T-test T-test
NL NO
Mean (SD) Mean (SD) t df Sig. Eta
The fact that cannabis is used ought to be accepted in Norway/ the Netherlands 3.37 (1.93) N5560 2.14 (1.72) N2138 27.25 4322.28 .00 0.088
The fact that cocaine/ heroin 1.87 (1.23) N5558 1.35 (0.92) N2141 20.36 5187.49 .00 0.051
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T-test T-test T-test
NL NL NO
Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD) t df Sig. Eta
The legal system should (still) differentiate between cannabis and stronger drugs 4.66 (1.97) N5545 3.32 (2.15) N2137 3.32 (2.15) N2137 25.16 3601.41 .00 0.076
Drug use should be legal 2.48 ( 1.74) N5547 1.48 ( 1.22) N2133 1.48 ( 1.22) N2133 28.29 5500.47 .00 0.094
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T-test T-test T-test
NL NO NO
Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD) t df Sig. Eta
Cannabis use must be prohibited 3.06 (1.33) N5579 3.06 (1.33) N5579 4.17 (1.16) N2145 -36.19 4405.02 .00 0.145
Use of other sorts of drugs must be prohibited 3.84 (1.16) N5576 3.84 (1.16) N5576 4.66 (0.79) N2141 -35.69 5698.18 .00 0.142
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Discussion

• Prevalence
• There is a difference in prevalence rates between
  these data and national data reports
• NL lifetime use cannabis lower
• NO lifetime use cannabis higher

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Discussion

• Beliefs
• Strongest difference in opinion on drug policy
  measures not on beliefs

???

• Acceptability is experienced differently than
  policy
• measures
• Symbolic politics1

1 Ødegård, E. (1995). LEGALITY AND LEGITIMACY On
Attitudes to Drugs and Social Sanctions. Br J
Criminol, 35(4), 525-542.
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Discussion
Hypothesis
The acceptability of cannabis use should be more
in line with the acceptability of cocaine/heroin
in Norway than in the Netherlands
Acceptability of cannabis is more pronounced in
Netherlands than in Norway
Yes, but slightly
Yes, though
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Discussion
.the scores on cannabis and cocaine/heroin items
are not equal
Difference between acceptability between cannabis
and cocaine/ heroin is smaller in Norway than in
Netherlands
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Thank you!
Rosalie van der Sar r.vdrsar_at_uvt.nl