Prevalence of Cannabis Use Among Youth in Germany, 2011

"In 2011, Germany took part in the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD) for the third time, after also taking part in 2003 and 2007. The aim of the study is to examine the extent of, attitudes to and risks of alcohol, tobacco and drug consumption amongst adolescents (see 2.1).
"With a lifetime prevalence of 22.2%, cannabis remained the most commonly consumed illegal substance (Table 2.3). In the year prior to the survey, 17.4% of adolescents had tried cannabis at least once. For the 30 days prior, this figure was 8.1%. More boys than girls reported having used cannabis at least once in their life (28.2% vs. 16.8%), in the 12 months prior to the survey (22.8% vs. 12.6%) and in the 30 days prior to the survey (11.7% vs. 4.8%). The lifetime prevalence was highest in respect of secondary general schools (26.8%).
"However, use within the last 30 days was reported by significantly more comprehensive school pupils (11.5%).
"A frequent consumption of cannabis was rare. In the 30 days 2.5% of adolescents reported having used cannabis more than five times in the last 30 days. As a proportion of cannabis users, 13.3% registered a frequent consumption of at least 20 times in the last month. This pattern of use was particularly common in secondary general schools (Hauptschule) (26.8%)."