10 things about alcohol and other drugs you may have missed

10 September 2014

Andrew BrownDirector of Policy, Influence and EngagementDrugScope

@andrewbrown365

Number of deaths caused by illegal drugs in England and Wales, by sex

2009 2010 2011 2012 20130

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

Males Females

Drug related deaths caused by illegal drugs rose by 20% between 2012 and 2013.

Over half of all drug-related deaths in 2013 were caused by opiates.

In 30% of the cases there was a mention of alcohol.

Drug deaths account for 1 in 7 deaths of people in their 20s and 30s.

Source: Deaths Related to Drug Poisoning in England and Wales, 2013, ONS (2014)

Age-standardised mortality rates for selected substances, deaths registered in 2012 and 2013

Male Drug Related Deaths

Heroin/m

orphine

Methadone

Antidepressa

nts

Benzodiaze

pines

Cocaine

Parace

tamol0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

2012 2013

Rate

per

mill

ion

popu

latio

n

Female related drug deaths

Heroin/m

orphine

Methadone

Antidepressa

nts

Benzodiaze

pines

Cocaine

Parace

tamol0

5

10

15

20

25

2012 2013

Rate

per

mill

ion

popu

latio

n

Source: Deaths Related to Drug Poisoning in England and Wales, 2013, ONS (2014)

Age-standardised mortality rate per 1 million population for deaths related to drug misuse, for deaths registered in 2013

North East

North W

estW

ales

Yorkshire

and the Humber

South West

West

Midlands

South East

East Midlands

East of E

ngland

London

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Source: Deaths Related to Drug Poisoning in England and Wales, 2013, ONS (2014)

National child measurement programme

Local authority role in health protection

Public health advice

NHS health check programme

Physical activity

Obesity

Children 5–19 public health programmes

Miscellaneous public health services

Sexual health services

Substance misuse (drugs, alcohol and tobacco)

0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

£ (thousand)

Local authority expenditure on public health 2013-14

How substance misuse spending by local authorities broke down in 2013-14

57%

20%

8%

13%2%

Substance misuse - Drug misuse - adults

Substance misuse - Alcohol misuse - adults

Substance misuse - (drugs and al-cohol) - youth services

Smoking and tobacco - Stop smoking services and interventions

Smoking and tobacco - Wider tobacco control

The government estimate that 90% of adult prisoners had at least one of the following five mental health or behavioural disorders (personality disorder, psychosis, neurosis, and alcohol misuse and drug dependence).

Sources: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2014-09-05a.207561.h referencing ‘Psychiatric Morbidity among Prisoners in England and Wales’, ONS (1998)

NB this data comes from a 1998 survey, apparently it has not been repeated since

Percentage of prisoners testing positive for drug use from all randomly tested prisoners for the last 5 years

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/140.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

Source: Prison performance digest: 2013 to 2014

Prisons where more than one in ten prisoners, subject to random mandatory drug testing, tested positive for drugs in 2013/14

Brixto

n

Birmingh

am

Liverp

ool

Bristo

l

Durham

Northumberla

nd

Pentonvil

le

Wan

dsworth

Hewell

Brinsfo

rd

Elmley

Worm

wood Scru

bs

Blundeston

Leice

ster

Stoke

Heath

Nottingh

am

Rocheste

r

Preston

Chelmsfo

rdLe

eds

Bullingd

on0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

Source: Prison performance digest: 2013 to 2014

Offenders found guilty and sentenced to immediate custody for possession of a controlled drug, by class of drug, England and Wales, over the last 5 years

2009 2010 2011 2012 20130

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

Class A Class B Class C

Source: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2014-09-03a.206953.h

In the last 5 years there has been a fall of 6.8% in the number of people found guilty of possession offences and an 11.3% fall in the use of custodial sentences

Number of female offenders aged 18 and above sentenced to immediate custody for a first drug offence by ethnicity in England and Wales, 2012-13

2012 20130

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

UnknownOtherAsianBlackWhite

Source: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2014-09-08b.207307.h#g207307.r0