Abstract
The rapid dissemination of drug use among adolescents in the Czech Republic and other Central and Eastern European countries during the 1990s had a significant impact on health care and social services for this population group. This paper describes the current situation related to drug use among adolescents in the Czech Republic and in other European countries and discusses several attitudinal and behavioral correlates of drug use among young people. The results presented here have been extracted from a database of the European School Survey on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) from 1995, 1999, and 2003. At the time of data collection, the average age of respondents in the sample was 15.4 years. Marijuana was the most common illicit substance used by European adolescents. The results also showed a marked increase in the number of adolescents who use substances repeatedly between 1995 and 2003. A marked increase in the popularity of ecstasy occurred in the same period. Between 1999 and 2003, the use of opiates and amphetamines in the Czech Republic decreased slightly. Attitudinal variables indicate that Czech adolescents tend to be more tolerant towards selected forms of drug using behavior than are their peers in Europe. The policy by which society tries to confront drug related health and social issues includes an expansion of the network of specialized facilities for treatment and resocialization and long-term programs in the field of prevention. In the future, the significance of programs that focus on early detection and intervention will increase.
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