NCJ Number
144344
Journal
Home Office Statistical Bulletin, Issue 15/93 (May 1993) Pages: complete issue
Date Published
1993
Length
55 pages
Annotation
Statistical information about drug addicts and drug deaths notified to the Chief Medical Officer of the British Home Office is analyzed.
Abstract
The Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1973 require doctors in the United Kingdom to notify the Home Office of patients they consider to be addicted to one of 14 specified drugs including cocaine, heroin and morphine. Since the numbers only reflect the number of addicts who have sought treatment, they most likely represent only a small proportion of addicts. The statistics give an indication, however, of trends in the number of persons dependent on notifiable drugs. The total number of addicts notified in 1992 was 19 percent higher than in 1991, similar to the rate of increase for the previous four years. New addicts, as opposed to those who had been reported in a previous year and were being counted again, accounted for almost 40 percent of all addicts each year. Heroin remains by far the most common drug of addiction in the United Kingdom but the proportion of all addicts addicted to heroin dropped from 72 percent in 1991 to 69 percent in 1992, a decline that accompanied the reporting of a record number people dependent on methadone. Doctors were first asked in September 1987 to indicate whether their addict patients injected drugs because of its importance in the transmission of HIV. Although this information is not available on all reported addicts, the numbers that were reported indicate a significant decline in the injection of drugs. The report also contains information about the deaths of notified addicts and about the number of deaths registered in the United Kingdom where drugs were implicated as a cause. 28 tables, 13 figures, 4 maps