Drugs

Drug use and misuse is a major concern for the North East and is high on the political agenda. Information on drug use is not available from a single source, but must be obtained and put together from multiple sources. Our aim is to collate and analyse information about drug use in the North East and disseminate it in a useful way.

The 2008-2018 drug strategy comprises four strands of work:

1. protecting communities through tackling drug supply, drug-related crime and anti-social behaviour
2. preventing harm to children, young people and families affected by drug misuse
3. delivering new approaches to drug treatment and social re-integration
4. public information campaigns, communications and community engagement

An estimated 3.764 million people in England and Wales use at least one illicit drug each year (British Crime Survey), and around one million people use at least one of the most dangerous drugs (such as heroin and crack). See the Updated Drug Strategy for more information.

For most people this will be a passing phase and they will not continue to take drugs or require any special treatment in order to deal with it. A minority of approximately 330,000 will, however, develop serious drug problems, typically involving heroin and/or cocaine. This is the group that the NTA targets.

While the numbers of people with serious drug problems may be small, drug misuse affects us all. Providing drug misusers with well-managed, effective treatment is the most successful way of tackling all of these harms. But giving up and staying off drugs is difficult. Most drug misusers relapse and need to return to treatment a number of times before getting their habit under control. However, around 50 per cent of those who do complete a comprehensive treatment programme are still drug-free after five years.

NDTMS North East Website

NTA Website

Homoffice Website - Drugs