Prevalence and Trends in Drug Use in Hungary

"Examining the changes between 2007 and 2013, there is no change to the measured lifetime prevalence within the limits of error, while with respect to the shorter-term prevalence rates and the continuous use rate a reduction took place¹⁵ at a two-thirds reliability level. The intensive increase indicated in recent years by studies performed in young populations does not appear in the data obtained with respect to the adult population.
"Over the past six years – in the adult population aged 19-64 – the age of first drug use dropped on average by nearly 2 years. The typical age of first drug use also became significantly (by 3 years) lower: while in 2007 the population aged 19-64 years came into contact with illicit substances at the age of 20, today the greatest proportion of adults first used an illicit drug at the age of 17.
"The occurrence of polydrug use has also increased in the last six years – examined with respect to the six types of EMQ standard drug. While in 2007 in the adult population aged 19-64 years, only one quarter of those using an illicit substance in the past year had used more than one type of drug, by 2013 this value had risen to one third. The proportion of those who had used more than three types of substance in the year before the study doubled: while six years ago every tenth drug user had used at least four types of drug, at the time of the study this was characteristic of every fifth user."