Quarter of teen Poles admits to drug use

Ten years ago, 15 percent of Polish teens admitted to using marijuana, while that figure has now grown to 24 percent, a new report claims.



According to Piotr Jablonski, director of the National Bureau for Drug Prevention, the growth in marijuana use is due to the rise of pro-cannabis campaigns and heightened public debate on the drug’s legalisation.

Jablonski told Thursday’s Metro daily that pro-legalisation campaigners promote the drug as safe. “It’s a lie, but youngsters are susceptible to such claims,” he says.

The comments come after the Health Ministry published its annual report on drug use, which states that in 2012, 15 percent of adult Poles came into contact with drugs, the vast majority opting for cannabis – 12 percent of all adults.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in Poland let off over 2,000 people who had been caught for possession of “insignificant amounts” of drugs for personal use.

The possibility of not being tried for minor possession offences was brought into law in 2011.

Out of the 2,000 cases dropped in 2012, 496 were brought forward in Poznan, followed by Szczecin (400), and Wroclaw (353) – all cities in western Poland. In Warsaw, by comparison, only 195 people were let off for minor possession offences.

(jb)