More action needed to combat drug abuse
New research published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health has warned that more must be done to tackle drug abuse.
According to the researchers, who were funded by the Home Office Research and Statistics Directorate, between one in 50 and one in 80 adults in London, Liverpool and Brighton are injecting drug users.
The Government is committed to doubling the number of addicts in treatment programmes, but today’s study suggested that the figures this target is based on are flawed and “considerably more effort will be needed to reach the targets.”
The researchers suggest that routine statistics do not provide accurate information on the level and prevalence of drug use. They point out that in the 2001 British Crime Survey less that 50 out of 33,000 people reported using heroin within the past month, a figure they describe as “implausible” considering the number of heroin users presenting themselves to health professionals.
Instead, the data for this research was gathered “indirectly” though community surveys, specialist drug treatment centres, referral after police arrest, syringe exchange schemes, and admissions for emergency cares.
The paper concludes that among 15 to 44 year olds injection drug usage, mainly of heroin, ranges from 1.2 per cent in Greater London to two per cent in Brighton. Extrapolating this data they argue that between one in 50 and one in 80 adults are an injecting drug user, making the habit as common as diabetes.
Figures also show that fewer that one in four of injecting drug users were in treatment programmes.
They also warn that the five million syringes distributed each year in London suggest that one syringe is handed out every two days. This they suggest is inadequate to prevent the spread of disease considering that most users inject twice daily.
The authors recommend that “syringe exchange distribution needs to be expanded, perhaps doubled, to reduce the opportunity for sharing and minimise the risk of viral transmission; especially hepatitis C infection.”
Lord Victor Adebowale, chief executive Turning Point said: “The most worrying finding in the report is that only a quarter of regular injecting drug users are in treatment. The Government has continued to invest in drug treatment over recent years but this shows that treatment services need to be more available and that we need to redouble our efforts in supporting problematic drug users. Treatment does work, but only where it is readily available at the point of need.”
