Use of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) By Young People In the European Union

"On average, the lifetime prevalence of use of new psychoactive substances was about 3 %, with the highest rates observed in Poland (6.4 %) and Slovenia (6.0 %), and the lowest in the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, the Faroes and Moldova (below 1.0 %). The average prevalence of lifetime use was higher among boys than girls (2.8 % versus 2.6 %), although gender differences varied between countries. In 13 countries, girls reported a higher lifetime prevalence of NPS use in 2024. The largest gaps in favour of girls were observed in Cyprus (6.6 % for girls versus 2.9 % for boys) and Slovakia (6.4 % versus 4.3 %), while in Ukraine, boys reported higher lifetime use than girls (3.6 % versus 2 %).

"With regard to specific substances, 3.5 % of ESPAD students (average calculated across 23 out of 37 countries) reported having used synthetic cannabinoids at least once in their lifetime, ranging from 0.7 % in Georgia to 16 % in Slovakia (where semi-synthetic cannabinoids such as HHC were included by students among synthetic cannabinoids). Similarly, 1.1 % of students reported lifetime use of synthetic cathinones (average calculated across 14 out of 37 countries), with the highest figures found in Hungary (3.7 %). The lifetime use of synthetic opioids varied between 0.6 % in Georgia, Ireland and Portugal, to 2.2 % in Estonia, with an average prevalence of 1.1 % (based on data from 15 out of 37 countries).

"On average, boys had a slightly higher prevalence of use than girls of all three of the classes of new synthetic substances included in the survey. The only exceptions were found in Cyprus, where girls reported a higher prevalence of synthetic cannabinoid use (9.1 % among girls versus 4.3 % among boys), Malta (4.7 % versus 2.4 %), Latvia (2.9 % versus 2.6 %) and Portugal (2.1 % versus 1.7 %). In addition, in Hungary, girls reported higher lifetime use of both synthetic cannabinoids (7.9 % versus 5.6 % among boys) and synthetic cathinones (4.3 % versus 2.9 %)."