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Published on www.emcdda.europa.eu (http://www.emcdda.europa.eu)

Home > Countries > > Drug use in Spain 2017

Countries

Austria [1]
Belgium [2]
Bulgaria [3]
Croatia [4]
Cyprus [5]
Czech Republic [6]
Denmark [7]
Estonia [8]
Finland [9]
France [10]
Germany [11]
Greece [12]
Hungary [13]
Ireland [14]
Italy [15]
Latvia [16]
Lithuania [17]
Luxembourg [18]
Malta [19]
Netherlands [20]
Norway [21]
Poland [22]
Portugal [23]
Romania [24]
Slovakia [25]
Slovenia [26]
Spain [27]
Sweden [28]
Turkey [29]
United Kingdom [30]

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[27] Spain Country Drug Report 2017

Spain main page [27] Sections
National drug strategy and coordination [31]

What are the long-term aims of drug policy in Spain? How are these aims to be achieved? How is drug
policy coordinated at national level?

Learn more [31]

Public expenditure [32]
Understanding the costs of drug-related actions is an important aspect of policy evaluation.

Learn more [32]

Drug laws and drug law offences [33]

What substances and activities does Spain control under its drug laws? What are the penalties for offences?
How are new psychoactive substances controlled?

Learn more [33]

Drug use [34]

How many people in Spain have ever used drugs? What drugs have they used? How many have used drugs
recently? How many are using drugs in highly risky ways?

Learn more [34]

Drug harms [35]

What are the main infectious diseases linked to drug injecting in Spain? How many died of drug overdose in
the last year? How many drug-related medical emergencies occurred?

Learn more [35]

Prevention [36]

What part does prevention play in Spain drug strategy. What are the main prevention approaches used in the
country and who do they target?

Learn more [36]

Harm reduction [37]

How does Spain measure in terms of provision of needle and syringe programmes, peer naloxone
programmes, supervised drug consumption rooms and heroin-assisted treatment.

Learn more [37]

Treatment [38]

How is the drug treatment system organised in Spain? How is it financed? How is the provision of treatment
divided between inpatient and outpatient settings?

Learn more [38]

Drug use and responses in prison [39]

Which authorities are responsible for prison health in Spain? What forms of drug treatment and harm
reduction are provided in prisons, and how widely?

Learn more [39]

Quality assurance [40]

What is done in Spain to ensure that the prevention and treatment interventions used are effective and
provide a good return on public expenditure?

Learn more [40]

Drug-related research [41]
In which areas of study is drug-related research carried out in Spain? How is this research funded? Are any
types of research emphasised in the national drug strategy?

Learn more [41]

Drug markets [42]

What is known about drug supply and trafficking in Spain? How pure or strong are the drugs available?
What do they cost? What are the main aims of supply reduction efforts?

Learn more [42]

Key statistics [43]

Key drug statistics for Spain

Learn more [43]

EU dashboard [44]

Focus on Spain

Learn more [44]

Drug use

Prevalence and trends

The prevalence of use of illicit substances in Spain has been relatively stable over the last few years, with
approximately one third of the adult population reporting lifetime use of an illicit substance. Cannabis,
followed by cocaine, is the most commonly used drug, with use mainly concentrated among adolescents and
adults below 35 years. Although the latest available data from the 2015 general population study confirm
that the prevalence of use of both substances has declined in the last 10 years, the levels of cannabis and
cocaine use in Spain remain higher than in other European Union countries.

The available data highlight that ?experimentation? with cannabis has become more ?habitual? among
today?s younger Spanish generation; however, although persistent use remains low, those who continue to
use cannabis do so almost daily. The use of all illicit substances remains more prevalent among males than
females.

The prevalence of the use of NPS has remained stable since 2011, with about 3.4 % of adults in the 2015
study reporting ever having used NPS. Most NPS users are young males who exhibit patterns of
experimental polydrug use. In general, polydrug use remains a very common consumption pattern,
especially among those aged 18 and over.

Four Spanish cities (Barcelona, Castellón, Molina de Segura and Valencia) participate in the Europe-wide
annual wastewater campaigns undertaken by the Sewage Analysis Core Group Europe (SCORE). This study
provides data on drug use at a community level, based on the levels of illicit drugs and their metabolites in
wastewater sources. The results of the 2016 study on stimulant drugs revealed high levels of cocaine
metabolites in wastewater samples from all cities studied, and higher than levels reported from some other
European cities participating in the study. In addition, Barcelona recorded an increase in MDMA/ecstasy
residues between 2011 and 2016. A common pattern across the monitored cities was an increased use of
cocaine and MDMA at weekends.
Estimates of last-year drug use among young adults (15-34 years) in Spain

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NB Estimated last-year prevalence of drug use in 2015.

Substance use among 15- to 16- year-old school students in Spain

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NBSource: ESTUDES (2014) and ESPAD study 2015.

Data on drug use among 14- to 18-year-old students come from The programme of State Surveys on Drug
Use in Secondary Schools (ESTUDES), which has been conducted every second year in Spain since 1994.
The 2014 study confirmed that the most commonly used illicit substance is cannabis, with about 3 out of 10
students admitting to having used it in the past. However, there was a slight increase in the proportion of
students who had used cannabis in preceding 30 days (18.6 % in 2014; 16.1 % in 2012). Lifetime prevalence
rates for other illicit drugs among the students remain well below that for cannabis. ESTUDES also supplies
data to the European School Project on Alcohol and Drugs (ESPAD), and the 2014 data indicated that
prevalence of lifetime cannabis use among Spanish students aged 15-16 years was higher than the ESPAD
average (35 countries).

High-risk drug use and trends

Studies reporting estimates of high-risk drug use can help to identify the extent of the more entrenched drug
use problems, while data on first-time entrants to specialised drug treatment centres, when considered
alongside other indicators, can inform understanding on the nature and trends in high-risk drug use.

In Spain, heroin remains the main substance linked to serious adverse health and social consequences, such
as drug-related infections. The estimated number of high-risk heroin users has shown a decreasing trend
since 2010, and remained stable in 2013-14. The number of high-risk cocaine users in Spain has been falling
since 2009. Injecting drug use has also declined in the last 30 years among those admitted to treatment.

Heroin remains the main substance linked to serious adverse consequences but the estimated number of high-
risk heroin users has remained relatively stable

Data from specialised treatment centres indicate that cocaine remains the substance resulting in the highest
number of treatment entries, while the number of first-time clients reporting cocaine as the primary
substance of use has decreased. Moreover, only a small proportion of cocaine users entering treatment
reported injecting drug use.

Additional data from treatment centres indicate that cannabis has progressively become the main primary
substance among those who enter the treatment for the first time. This corresponds to the findings of the last
general population study, while the 2014 ESTUDES indicated a slight decline in daily cannabis users.

National estimates of last year prevalence of high-risk opioid use

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NB Year of data 2015, or latest available year.

Characteristics and trends of drug users entering specialised drug treatment centres in Spain

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NB Year of data 2014. Data is for first-time entrants, except for gender which is for all treatment entrants

Spain main page

[27]
Source URL: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/drug-use_en

Links
[1] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/austria_en
[2] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/belgium_en
[3] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/bulgaria_en
[4] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/croatia_en
[5] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/cyprus_en
[6] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/czech-republic_en
[7] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/denmark_en
[8] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/estonia_en
[9] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/finland_en
[10] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/france_en
[11] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/germany_en
[12] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/greece_en
[13] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/hungary_en
[14] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/ireland_en
[15] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/italy_en
[16] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/latvia_en
[17] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/lithuania_en
[18] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/luxembourg_en
[19] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/malta_en
[20] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/netherlands_en
[21] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/norway_en
[22] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/poland_en
[23] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/portugal_en
[24] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/romania_en
[25] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/slovakia_en
[26] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/slovenia_en
[27] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain_en
[28] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/sweden_en
[29] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/turkey_en
[30] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/united-kingdom_en
[31] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/strategy-and-coordination_en
[32] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/public-expenditure_en
[33] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/drug-laws-and-offences_en
[34] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/drug-use_en
[35] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/drug-harms_en
[36] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/prevention_en
[37] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/harm-reduction_en
[38] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/treatment_en
[39] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/drug-use-response-in-prison_en
[40] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/quality-assurance_en
[41] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/drug-research_en
[42] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/drug-markets_en
[43] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/key-statistics_en
[44] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/countries/drug-reports/2017/spain/eu-dashboard_en