Article

• Published in: Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
• Main Author: Gunnlaugsson, Helgi
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 1998
• Subjects: Health Policy; Health (social science); Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1455072598015005-610; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1455072598015005-610

Helgi Gunnlaugsson: Drug use, attitudes and control policies in Iceland. A comparison with the other Nordic countries Studies on the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs have frequently been conducted in Iceland in the past few years. These studies have mostly involved use among youth, so trends in the adult population have not yet been mapped out to the same extent. In this presentation, findings from the first ever general population survey on drug use in Iceland will be presented. Prompted by the Nordic Drug Survey, in which Iceland did not take part, a few questions from that survey were adopted in a survey conducted in Iceland in late 1997. Based on the Nordic comparative figures, it appears that Iceland is in some respects not very different from the other Nordic nations. Yet lifetime prevalence of cannabis use was found to be significantly higher in Iceland than in the other Nordic nations, except for Denmark, which clearly is in a league of its own. However, if the use in the last 6 months is analysed, Iceland is very similar to the other Nordic nations. The consumption pattern, in terms of age and gender, seems also to follow the general pattern found in the other Nordic nations. As for attitudes toward different control measures, it is apparent that the public in all of the Nordic countries seems to be in favour of adopting unconventional control methods in the fight against drugs.