Prevalence of Use of Ecstasy, Amphetamine, Ketamine, and Nitrous Oxide in England and Wales Among People Aged 16 to 59

"Ecstasy

"The trend in the proportion of 16 to 59 year olds using ecstasy in the last year has been relatively flat throughout the lifetime of the survey, fluctuating between one and two per cent (Figure 1.6). The proportion of last year ecstasy users aged 16 to 59 in the 2018/19 survey (1.6%) was similar to the 2017/18 CSEW (1.7%).

"Among 16 to 24 year olds, the trend shows greater fluctuation between years. Following a generally downward trend from the start of the times series, there was an increase in last year use among this age group between the 2011/12 (3.3%) and 2018/19 (4.7%) surveys. Whilst estimated levels of use have fluctuated between 4.3 and 5.4 per cent in recent years, prevalence of ecstasy use among 16-24 year olds remain below its peak of 6.8 per cent estimated from the 2001/02 survey.

"Other drugs

"The information below presents findings on some of the less commonly used drugs. These can be found in Appendix Table 1.02. Due to the lower number of people using these drugs, even small changes in prevalence can be statistically significant. Changes from one year to the next should be interpreted with caution and greater attention paid to the medium and longer-term trends in these drugs.

"• Use of amphetamines decreased among both 16 to 59 and 16 to 24 year olds. For those aged 16 to 59, prevalence of amphetamine use has followed a general downward trend since a high of 3.3 per cent in 1996 to 0.6 per cent in 2018/19. Use of amphetamines followed a similar trend for those aged 16 to 24, falling from a high of 11.7 per cent in 1996 to 1.0 per cent in 2018/19.

"• Ketamine use has increased from a decade ago across both age groups. For adults aged 16 to 59, use of ketamine has fluctuated in the last decade, with the latest estimate at 0.8 per cent, an increase compared with 2008/09 (0.5%). Use among adults aged 16 to 24 also showed a lot of variation in the last decade, although there was a general increase from 1.9 per cent in 2008/09 to 2.9 per cent in 2018/19, with a particularly large rise between 2016/17 and 2017/18 (1.3% to 3.1% respectively).

"• Nitrous oxide continued to be the second most used drug among 16 to 24 year olds, with 8.7% having used it, a similar proportion (8.8%) to last year’s survey. This equates to around 552,000 young adults who used nitrous oxide in the last year. Use of new psychoactive substances among 16 to 24 year olds in the 2018/19 survey was also at a similar proportion to last year’s survey (1.4% and 1.2% respectively)."