There were almost 311,000 adults in contact with drug and alcohol treatment in the year to March, according to the latest OHID figures – 7 per cent up on last year. It represents the biggest rise since 2008-09, and the highest number of adults in treatment since 2009-10.
People in treatment for problems with opiates were the largest group at 44 per cent, a 4 per cent drop from last year, while 30 per cent were in treatment for alcohol. The number of adults entering treatment was up from just under 138,000 to almost 159,000, with the proportion of people starting treatment for powder cocaine reaching its highest ever level, at 19 per cent.
A fifth of people starting treatment had no home of their own, rising to almost 40 per cent of those starting treatment for opiates, while nearly three quarters of adults starting treatment reported a mental health treatment need. Nearly half of people in treatment said they were smokers, compared to just 13 per cent of men and 10 per cent of women in the general population.
Almost half of the 137,477 people who exited the system had successfully completed treatment, while the number of people who died while in contact with services stood at 1.3 per cent, a slight fall from the previous year.
There were 14,352 children and young people in drug and alcohol treatment during the same period, 16 per cent up on the previous year but still more than 40 per cent lower than the 2008-09 peak figure of 24,494. Almost 90 per cent were in treatment for cannabis, while just under 40 per cent had problems with alcohol, 9 per cent with ecstasy and 8 per cent with powder cocaine. Eighty per cent of children and young people said they’d started using substances before the age of 15, with 56 per cent reporting polydrug use. Almost half said they had a mental health treatment need, up from just over 30 per cent in 2018-19.
In Scotland, cocaine has now overtaken heroin for the first time as the most commonly reported main drug used by people starting treatment, according to new PHS figures – at 30 per cent to 28 per cent. Of the people who’d used opioids in the previous month, 63 per cent had a take-home naloxone kit.
Meanwhile, opium production in Afghanistan remains more than 90 per cent down on 2022 levels, according to UNODC. Just over 430 tons of the drug have been produced this year, the agency estimates, which is 30 per cent up on last year but 93 per cent lower than in 2022 when the Taliban imposed its ban on poppy cultivation. Earlier this month UNODC released its opium cultivation figures, which showed that cultivation had increased by almost 20 per cent compared to last year, to 12,800 hectares – but was still far below pre-2022 levels of more than 230,000 hectares.
‘A second year of low opium cultivation and production presents opportunities and complex challenges,’ said UNODC chief executive Ghada Waly. ‘International efforts must be coordinated to ensure that this decline is not replaced with production of dangerous synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine within Afghanistan or the wider region.’
Adult substance misuse treatment statistics 2023 to 2024 available here
Children and young people’s substance misuse treatment statistics 2023 to 2024 available here
Drug and alcohol information system (DAISy): overview of initial assessments for specialist drug and alcohol treatment 2023/24 available here
UNODC report available here