The Crime Survey for England and Wales examines the extent and trends in illicit drug use among a nationally representative sample of 16 to 59 year olds resident in households in England and Wales. The following headline figures are taken from the 2014-15 Survey for England and Wales:
- Around 1 in 12 (8.6%) adults aged 16 to 59 had taken an illicit drug in the last year. However, this proportion more than doubled when looking at the age subgroup of 16 to 24 year-olds (19.4%).
- Levels of last year drug use in 2014-15 were slightly higher than the lowest levels seen (2012-13 when 8.1% of 16 to 59 year-olds and 16.2% of 16 to 24 year-olds had taken an illicit drug in the last year. However the figures were broadly similar to 2013-14 and well below the levels seen in the 1990s and 2000s.
- An increase in Ecstasy use was seen in 16 to 24 year olds, increasing from 3.9% in 2013-14 to 5.4% in 2014-15.
- The use of Khat fell by four fifths (from 0.2% in 2011-12 to 0.04% in 2014-15) following it becoming a controlled substance in 2014.
- New psychoactive substances mimic the effect of drugs such as cannabis, ecstasy and powder cocaine and may or may not be illegal to buy when the first become available. 4.0% of males and 1.5% of females aged 16 to 24 used such a substance in the last year.
Figure 9.20 looks at longer term trends in drug use from the survey highlighting that whilst the use of certain drugs and drug use overall has fallen, the use of Powder Cocaine and Methadone has increased. Over the last year magic mushroom use has increased for 16 to 59 year olds, and Ecstasy use has increased for 16 to 24 year olds.
Figure 9.20, Overall national trends in drug use for ages 16-24 and 16-59 between 1996, 2013-14 and 2014-15
Source: British Crime Survey
Problematic drug users (PDU’s) classified as those using opiates and crack cocaine, place a disproportionately large burden on the substance misuse treatment services. A prevalence estimate for opiate and crack users (OCU) released by the National Treatment Agency estimated that in 2009-10, 6.18 people per 1000 aged 18 to 64 in Devon were opiate and crack users. This was lower, but not statistically different to the South West rate (8.95 per 1,000) and national rate (9.24 per 1,000) and equated to an estimated 2887 users.