"Data on the use of illicit substances among students aged 15-16 are reported in the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). This survey has been carried out regularly in the Netherlands since 1999 and the most recent data are from 2015. The ESPAD studies indicate a decreasing trend in lifetime cannabis use among school-age children over the period 1999-2015. Nevertheless, in 2015, lifetime use of cannabis among students in the Netherlands was notably higher than the ESPAD average (based on data from 35 countries). However, lifetime use of illicit drugs other than cannabis and lifetime use of NPS were more or less in line with the ESPAD average. Data from the 2017 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study also showed a decrease in lifetime prevalence of cannabis use among students aged 12-16 years from 16.5 % in 2003 to 9.2 % in 2017."
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (2019), The Netherlands, Country Drug Report 2019, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
