STAGE 1. Assessing needs
What steps should be completed?
Step 1: Explore the magnitude, characteristics and consequences of drug use
Among the questions posed when studying the use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, it is common to evaluate the use of these substances at different times: at any time in a lifetime, in the last 12 months, and during the previous 30 days. This information enables the levels of use (e.g., experimental, occasional or habitual use) in the population to be estimated.
Even if a survey mainly focuses on the use of illegal drugs, questions about tobacco and alcohol use allow other drugs to be tackled. The use of legal and illegal drugs seems to be related, so abuse of legal drugs is quite common among illegal drug users (the relationship is much lower in reverse) and starting to use legal drugs at an early age increases the likelihood of using illegal drugs.
Some key questions, such as whether the respondent has drunk five or more alcoholic beverages under particular circumstances, are often included when evaluating excessive alcohol consumption.
Evaluating the consumption of alcoholic beverages may prove quite complex: on the one hand, alcohol consumption is widespread in many countries and may include very different patterns of consumption. On the other hand, the variety of presentations and amounts consumed mean that a large number of questions must be asked to obtain accurate data. Although many alternative methods have been proposed to gather information on alcohol consumption, the most common is to ask about the typical frequency of consumption and the amount of alcohol usually consumed on days when alcohol is drunk (Quantity-Frequency method).
It may be useful to take into account the following guidelines when collecting information on consumer prevalence:
© COPOLAD. Cooperation Programme between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union on Drugs Policies.
