Since 1995 the incidence of problem drug users is followed up by the National Drug Information System which assembles information from a network of about 250 treatment/contact centres. The source of data on experimental and recreational drug use are nationwide school surveys implemented in 1994, 1997 and 2000. Both sources of information agree that solvent abuse is somewhat losing its popularity. While the total number of newly registered drug users during the investigation period increased by 34% from 2905 in 1995 to 3891 in 1999, the number of newly recorded solvent users declined by 51%, from 326 in 1995 to 166 in 1999. In 1995 solvents were abused by 15.5% of all problem drug users, in 1999 only by 5.9%. According to school surveys the proportion of 14 - 19-year-old students who had experience with „sniffing“ of volatile substances declined from 6.5% in 1994 to 4.8% in 2000. The decline of registered problem solvent users was however recorded only in age groups above 20 years. The mean age of problem solvent users declined from 19.3 years in 1995 to 17.5 years in 1999. Three quarters of recreational users tried „sniffing“ of volatile substances before the age of 16 years. The most frequent age when solvent abuse starts is 14 - 15 years.

        Key words: solvent abuse, volatile substances, epidemiology, school surveys