STAGE 1. Assessing needs
What steps should be completed?
Step 1: Explore the magnitude, characteristics and consequences of drug use
Most drug-use surveys target the general population through personal interviews conducted at the respondent’s home, or with adolescents in schooling who are asked to respond to questionnaires collectively administered in the schools themselves.
Although home surveys aimed at the general population pose technical difficulties and have significant financial costs that exceed the possibilities of most local communities, many countries and some international organisations conduct this type of study. Surveys aimed at adolescents in schooling can be carried out more easily and have lower requirements, both in terms of human resources and financial cost, although they provide qualitatively different information. However, before starting a study of this nature it is advisable to consult the information available in national and international systems (drug observatories and the like) to avoid dedicating efforts and resources to inquiries that have possibly already been made. The following links can provide access to these sources of information. +
Drug use surveys apply a questionnaire (self-administered, administered by an interviewer, etc.) to a group of individuals. As the survey group cannot usually include the whole population, the selected individuals should constitute a representative sample of the population, usually using some random procedure to select subjects.
In the case of school surveys addressed to the school population, a questionnaire is given to students attending class. School absenteeism and the fact that part of the population does not have access to schooling will be biases that must be taken into account. It is possible that some forms of drug use mainly affect individuals who do not regularly attend school and who will probably not be included in the study.
In addition to questions about drug use and sociodemographic information, surveys often include questions aimed at evaluating the presence of certain risk factors and protection factors for drug abuse, age and other circumstances that accompanied the first use of different drugs and, sometimes, respondents’ views on users, local drug policies, other people’s behaviour or even the risks associated with certain behaviours.
The following link at the EMCDDA contains additional information about population surveys: 
It may be useful to take into account the following guidelines when collecting information about survey data:
© COPOLAD. Cooperation Programme between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union on Drugs Policies.
