Trends in drug use in the North East

This paper describes the trends of problematic drug use as recorded in the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) for patients resident in the North East at their first presentation for specialist drug treatment. Its purpose is to support the commissioners and providers of drug treatment, and provide intelligence to inform all concerned with the harms drug use can cause to both the individual and the community.

Its key findings include that there has been a fall of over a third in the numbers of North East patients who present to specialist drug treatment for the first time each year, between 2004 and 2011. This has been accompanied by a changing pattern in the presenting drugs problematically used. For people presenting for the first time:-

• Heroin has been overtaken by cannabis as the main drug
• Cocaine has overtaken amphetamines as the third drug
• There is a fall in numbers overall

• Drugs