Monitoring recreational drug use in Switzerland

Since 2012, Infodrog has analysed data from structured interviews collected during counselling sessions with recreational drug users. Data comes from all language regions of Switzerland and offers insight into the consumption realities of recreational drug users. The questionnaire on nightlife prevention was filled on-site in clubs, bars, at festivals, in outpatient specialist centres, or online. The results provide detailed insights into consumption habits and the related problems for recreational drug users.

The data offers exclusive access to a group of users who are very difficult to reach for other prevention and harm reduction organisations. The target group is characterised by predominantly hidden drug use, a lack of awareness associated with its drug use, and, lastly, by behaviours that are partly harmful to health, however without the typical symptoms of addiction. Thanks to the acceptance-oriented attitude of the counsellors, the risk of social desirability bias is comparatively low (e.g. compared to representative telephone surveys).

The presentation provides an overview of the 2012-2018 data on issues such as socio-demographic composition of respondents, prevalence of use, settings in which substances are used, polydrug use, as well as short-term and long-term problems associated with the use of legal and illegal psychoactive substances. Bearing in mind the self-selectivity of the sample, there are also certain hypotheses that can be derived on long-term trends.