http://www.nwph.net/nwpho/publications/Drugs_indications.pdf (PDF)
Commissioned by Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer for England, the report provides a comprehensive picture of regional and national patterns of drug use prevalence and treatment, as well as trends in crime and hospital admissions related to drug use. The report is based on the collection and cross-analysis of a range of existing data from sources including the Home Office’s British Crime Survey, the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System, the Offending Crime and Justice Survey and NHS statistics on hospital episodes and drug-related deaths. Some of the key patterns identified in the report are:
• overall, the number of people reporting using any drug in the last year and last month has decreased year-on-year between 2002/03 and 2007/08;
• five out of nine regions reported an increase in the number of young people (age 10 to 25) reporting having ever used cocaine between 2003 and 2006;
• the expansion in drug treatment has led to a 130% increase in the number of people in contact with treatment between 1998/99 and 2006/07;
• the majority of those in contact with treatment services in England in 2006/07, were primary opiate users (62.2%);
• the number of females (55,272) in contact with drug treatment is less than half of males (139,729);