Today the Information Centre for health and social care has published an annual statistical bulletin presenting information on drug misuse among adults and children in England.
Most of the data presented in this bulletin, Statistics on drug misuse: England, 2007, has already been published by various sources including the Information Centre, the Department of Health, the Home Office, the Office for National Statistics, the Health Protection Agency or the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. The Information Centre has brought the data together for the first time in a user-friendly format.
The Information Centre is a special health authority that aims to make information more relevant and accessible to the public, regulators, health and social care professionals and policy makers.
The topics covered in the report include: the prevalence of drug misuse, including the types of drugs used; trends in drug misuse over recent years; patterns of drug misuse among different groups of the population, including vulnerable groups; European comparisons of drug misuse; drugs and crime and health outcomes related to drug misuse including hospital admissions, drug treatment and deaths related to drug misuse. Key statistics highlighted by the report include:
- in 2005/06, 10.5% of adults (aged 16 59, living in England and Wales) had used one or more illicit drug in the last year, a decrease from 12.1% in 1998.
- the use of any Class A drug among adults (aged 16 - 59, living in England) in the last year has increased, from 2.7% in 1998 to 3.4% in 2005/06, mainly due to a rise in the use of cocaine powder.
- for younger adults aged 16 to 24 (living in England), drug use in the last year fell between 1998 and 2005/06, from 31.8% to 25.2%, whilst the use of Class A drug use has remained stable.
- in 2006, 17% of school pupils (aged 11 15, living in England) reported taking drugs in the last year, a fall from 19% in 2005. Again this has fluctuated since 2001 when it was 20%.
- cannabis was the drug most commonly taken during 2006, when 10.1% of school pupils (aged 11 15, living in England) reported using the drug. This proportion is lower than 2001, when the proportion was 13.4%.
- during 2005/06 181,390 people were in contact with structured drug treatment services. This is a 13% increase on figures during 2004/05, where the number was 160,453 and more than twice the number in 1998/99.
- in 2004/05, a larger number of men accessed treatment services than women (114,598 men compared to 45,852 women).
- overall, heroin was the main drug for which people received treatment (64% of all treatments), whilst for clients aged under 18, it was cannabis (67%).
- the total number of deaths related to drug misuse in England and Wales increased from 829 in 1993 to 1805 in 2001 and was 1608 in 2005, an increase from 1495 in 2004.
Source: www.ic.nhs.uk
Posted: 23rd April 2007
For more information please contact Ruth Goldsmith in the DrugScope Press Office on 020 7940 7517 (07736 895563 out of hours) or at press@drugscope.org.uk
