HSCIC data about drug misuse are compiled from a variety of sources and give insight into the trends in use and misuse among school pupils (11 to 15 years) and adults (16 to 59 years). The data also provide information on prevalence of drug use, types of drugs used, prescriptions for treating drug dependence and drug-related deaths.
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) also provide data on drug-related hospital admissions and procedures.
Key facts for England
Latest available drug misuse figures show:
- Around one in 11 (8.8 per cent) adults aged 16 to 59 had taken an illicit drug in England and Wales in 2013-14. This proportion more than doubles within the 16 to 24 year old age category (18.9 percent). These figures are an increase from 2012-13, when 8.1 per cent of 16 to 59 year-olds and 16.2 per cent of 16 to 24 year-olds had taken an illicit drug in the last year.
- There were nearly three times as many males as females admitted to hospital in 2013-14 with a primary diagnosis of drug-related mental health and behavioural disorders (5,265 and 1,838 respectively).
- About one in three (2,566 out of 8,053) drug-related hospital admissions were aged 25 to 34 years in 2014-15.
- In 2014-15 there were 74,329 admissions to hospital with a primary or secondary diagnosis of a drug-related mental health and behaviour disorder, which is a 8 per cent rise on 2013-14 when there were 68,597 such admissions.
- There were 14,277 hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of poisoning by illicit drugs in 2014-15.This represents a 57per cent increase since 2004-05, when there were 9,084 such admissions.
- In 2014, 15 per cent of school pupils in England reported to have ever taken drugs, which is similar to the figure in 2013 (16 per cent).
- Cannabis continues to be the most widely used drug among 11 to 15 year olds in 2014, with 7 per cent of pupils reporting having taken it in the last year.
- There were almost 2,000 drug-related deaths across England and Wales in 2013 and around seven in ten of these were due to accidental poisoning.