Cannabis and Drug Helplines

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• Cannabis and Drug Helplines
• Data from the FESAT Monitoring System
• Björn Hibell
• Presented at the conference
• Taking a Call on Cannabis Drug Helplines
  Response
• Lisbon 1-2 October, 2007

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FESAT Monitoring Project

• 13 data collections
• 2 data collections per year
• Changes during the last 6 months
• March 2007 covering the last 6 months of 2006
• Report distributed in June
• Extra questions related to cannabis

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• Most frequent contacts
• 15 helplines

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Contacts Average proportions

• Cannabis 25 (7-52)
• Heroin 20 (3-70)
• Cocaine 14 (0-44)
• Alcohol 13 (0-48)
• Others 13 (0-40)
• Ecstasy 5 (0-15)
• Amphetamines 5 (0-20)
• Benzodiazepines 4 (0-20)
• GHB/GBL 1 (0-6)

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Contacts Number 1 rankings

• Cannabis 8
• Heroin 2 (Gr, Gr)
• Others 2 (Au, Fi)
• Cocaine 1 (It)
• Alcohol 1 (La)
• Amphetamines 1 (Fi)

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Contacts Average ranking (9 1)

• Cannabis 8.2
• Alcohol 5.9
• Cocaine 5.8
• Heroin 5.4
• Others 5.0
• Amphetamines 4.5
• Ecstasy 4.1
• Benzodiazepines 3.5
• GHB/GBL 2.9

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• Most important increases in 2006
• 13 helplines

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Increases Ranking (3 1)

• Cocaine (1.7)
• Alcohol (1.2)
• Cannabis (1.2)
• Heroin (0.8)
• Amphetamines (0.4)
• Benzodiazepines (0.2)
• GHB/GBL (0.2)
• Others (0.2)
• Ecstasy (0.1)

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Increases Number 1 rankings

• Cocaine 5 (Gr, Ir, It, No, Po)
• Cannabis 3 (Be, Ge, Ne)
• Heroin 2 (Fi, Gr)
• Alcohol 1 (Be)
• Amphetamines 1 (Fi)

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• Most important decreases in 2006
• 13 helplines

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Decreases Ranking (3 1)

• Ecstasy (1.5)
• Cannabis (0.7)
• Heroin (0.6)
• Others (0.6)
• GHB/GBL (0.5)
• Amphetamines (0.3)
• Benzodiazepines (0.3)
• Cocaine (0.2)
• Alcohol (0.0)

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Decreases Number 1 rankings

• Ecstasy 4 (Gr, It, Ne, Po)
• Cannabis 3 (Be, Fi, Gr)
• Heroin 2 (Cy, Ir)
• GHB/GBL 1 (Ge)
• Others 1 (No)

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• Who calls about cannabis?
• 17 helplines

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Callers Ranking (10 - 1)

• Parents (9.5)
• Users (8.5)
• Partners (7.4)
• Relatives (7.1)
• Friends (5.8)
• Professionals (5.5)
• Others (4.0)
• Students (3.3)
• Teachers (2.9)
• Media (2.1)

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Callers Number 1 rankings

• Parents 11
• Users 5 (Au, Ge, Ne, No, Po)
• Partners 1 (Ma)

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• Cannabis related subjects
• 15 helplines

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Cannabis subjects Ranking (11 - 1)

• General effects (9.6)
• Length of time it is detectable (8.5)
• Mental health implications (8.3)
• Advise/Support (8.1)
• Seeking treatment (7.5)
• Physical health implications (7.0)
• Legal implications (6.2)
• Cannabis as gateway drug (5.9)
• Route of administration (5.0)
• Contamination (4.2)
• Others (1.9)

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Cannabis subjects Number 1 rankings

• General effects 4 (Fi, Ge, Gr, Ne)
• Length of time it is detectable 4 (Gr, La, Ma,
  Po)
• Advise/Support 3 (Cy, Ir, No)
• Seeking treatment 2 (Be, It)
• Mental health aspects 1 (Fi)

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Dominant cannabis questions

• Advise/Support 90 , 55
• Treatment 70 , 31
• Length of time it is detectable 36

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Communication subjects (16 helplines)

• Cannabis in general 8
• Hashish and/or marihuana 8
• No geographical pattern

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• Cannabis attitudes
• 9 helplines

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Cannabis attitude scale from 1 (very negative) to
10 (very positive) for average callers

• Three years ago
• Today
• Average cannabis user
• Average partner
• Average parent
• Average social worker
• Average police officer

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Cannabis attitudes 2007 (10 - 1)

• Average user 6.1 (10-3)
• Average social worker 4.3 (5-2)
• Average partner 4.1 (6-1)
• Average parent 2.6 (4-1)
• Average police officer 2.5 (4-1)
• Attitudes on the negative side for all
  categories but users

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Cannabis attitudes Changes over 3 years

• Average user - 0.9 (7.0 - 6.1)
• Average police officer - 0.6 (3.1 - 2.5)
• Average parent - 0.6 (3.2 - 2.6)
• Average social worker - 0.5 (4.8 - 4.3)
• Average partner - 0.4 (4.4 - 4.1)
• Attitudes have become more negative

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Summary 1 (2)

• Cannabis is the most common subject (25 ),
  followed by heroin (22 ).
• Heroin dominants in Greece.
• Increased number of questions mainly about
  cocaine, alcohol and cannabis.
• Decreased number of questions mainly about
  ecstasy, cannabis and heroin.
• Most important callers are parents and users.
• Most important cannabis subjects are general
  effects and length of time cannabis is detectable
  in urine/blood.

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Summary 2 (2)

• Some subjects dominates (heavily) at some
  helplines.
• Cannabis users have the most positive attitudes
  to cannabis and police officers the most
  negative.
• Attitudes to cannabis on the negative side for
  all groups but users.
• Attitudes to cannabis have become more negative
  during the last three years.

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