Understanding Online Drug Related Harm 

Most school-aged young people in Scotland are NOT using illegal drugs. In the most recent National Health and Wellbeing Census approx. 10% of S4 pupils said they had ever taken illegal drugs. Sharing this information with young people is called normative education, and is a very important part of drug education, where false perceptions about prevalence of drug use can be corrected and challenged.  

A growing concern is that increased visibility and availability of drugs for sale via social media leads to the normalisation of illegal drug use.  DM for Details: Selling Drugs in the Age of Social Media found that 1 in 4 of the 16-25 year olds surveyed had seen drugs for sale on social media. This highlights that it is easier for young people to access illegal drugs than in past generations (whether to consume themselves, or sell to others, and all the risks that both of these may lead to), but it can also fuel the false perception that most young people are using illegal drugs when it has been shown from research that this is not the case.  

The Online High toolkit explores the potential impact on young people of seeing drugs for sale online. 

In today’s digital age, most young people have a smartphone (HBSC, 2022), giving them constant access to content and communication with both friends and strangers. Unfortunately, a majority of children report encountering harmful experiences online (Internet Matters, 2024) - an issue that becomes even more prevalent among vulnerable young people, particularly those with multiple vulnerabilities (Katz & El Asam, 2021).  

Despite these trends, the link between social media and physical interpersonal violence among young people in Scotland remains underexplored. However, research from England (Crest, 2022) highlights that vulnerable young people who frequently engage in potentially harmful online spaces may be at greater risk of becoming involved in serious youth violence.