For the first time in the history of Dutch National Drug Policy, we have access to reliable and detailed national drug use data. This report publishes the data of a 1997 national study on drug use among the population of 12 years and older in the Netherlands. The figures are based on self-reported data. Almost 22,000 respondents were questioned face-to-face about lifestyle and the use of licit and illicit drugs. Drugs included in the study include tobacco, cocaine, amphetamine, ecstasy, hallucinogens, mushrooms, opiates such as heroin and codeine, and doping.

The survey was designed by CEDRO in cooperation with Statistic Netherlands (CBS), and funded by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports (VWS). The report gives an outline of "average" drug use prevalence in the Netherlands as a whole and drug use prevalence in the country's four large cities and the five population density strata separately.