ISSUES
: Drugs
Chapter 1: Drug issues
5
Statistical news release – drug misuse:
findings from the 2014/15 crime survey
Survey for England and Wales.
T
he latest National Statistics
on illicit drug use in England
and Wales are released today,
based on self-reported data from the
2014/15 Crime Survey for England
and Wales (CSEW).
Key findings:
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Around one in 12 (8.6%) adults
aged 16 to 59 had taken an illicit
drug in the last year. This equated
to around 2.8 million people. This
was similar to the 2013/14 survey
estimate (8.8%, 2.9 million).
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According to the 2014/15 CSEW,
3.2% of adults aged 16 to 59
had taken a Class A drug in the
last year, equivalent to just over
one million people. The long-
term trend in Class A drug use
has been broadly stable over the
last few years, although there has
been some fluctuation.
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Use of New Psychoactive
Substances (NPS) in the last
year appears to be concentrated
among young adults aged 16
to 24. Around one in 40 (2.8%)
young adults aged 16 to 24 took
an NPS in the last year, while
fewer than one in 100 (0.9%) of
16- to 59-year-olds had done so.
This equates to around 174,000
young adults aged 16 to 24 and
279,000 adults aged 16 to 59.
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The use of ecstasy in the last
year increased among 16- to 24-
year-olds between the 2013/14
and 2014/15 surveys, from 3.9%
to 5.4%. This is an increase of
approximately 95,000 young
people.
Other findings from the
2014/15 CSEW
Frequency of illicit drug use in the
last year
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Estimates fromthe 2014/15CSEW
show that 2.2% of adults aged 16
to 59 were classed as frequent
drug users (having taken any illicit
drug more than once a month on
average in the last year). Frequent
drug users made up just over
a third (36%) of the adults who
reported drug use within the last
year. The 2014/15 CSEW showed
that 8% of adults who reported
using drugs last year said they
had used drugs every day.
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Cannabis was the drugmost likely
to be frequently used, with 39%
of cannabis users being classed
as frequent users in the 2014/15
survey. Tranquillisers were the
second most likely drug type to
be used (27% of users reported
frequent use in the 2013/14 survey
– the most recent data available
on frequency of using drugs other
than cannabis).
Illicit drug use by personal,
household and area characteristics
and lifestyle factors
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Younger people are more likely to
take drugs than older people. The
level of any drug use in the last
year was highest among 16- to
19-year-olds (18.8%) and 20- to
24-year-olds (19.8%). The level
of drug use was much
lower in the oldest age
group surveyed (2.4% of
55- to 59-year-olds).
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People living in urban
areas reported higher
levels of drug use than
those living in rural
areas. Just under a tenth
(9.1%) of people living in
urban areas had used
any drug compared with
6.5% of those living in
rural areas. In addition,
higher levels of drug
use are associated with
increased frequency of
visits to pubs, bars and
nightclubs.
Simultaneous polydrug and
polysubstance use
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In the combined 2013/14
and 2014/15 surveys, 9%
of respondents who used drugs in
the last year said that the last time
they used drugs, they used more
than one drug at the same time.
This has increased significantly
from 7% in the combined 2010/11
and 2011/12 surveys.
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Mephedrone (68%), ecstasy
(57%), amphetamines (50%)
and tranquillisers (35%) were
the drugs most likely to be used
simultaneously with other drugs.
The lowest prevalence of polydrug
use was found among those who
had used cannabis the last time
they had used drugs (9% of those
who used cannabis last time used
it alongside another drug).
23 July 2015
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The above information is reprinted
with kind permission from the
Home Office. Please visit www.
gov.uk for further information.
© Crown copyright 2016
