To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his most recent estimate of totals of people in Great Britain who are addicted to drugs as a result of (a) the use of illegal drugs and (b) the use of medicinal products.
The Home Office maintains an addicts index which indicates the number of people notified by doctors as dependent on a range of drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The number of new and existing drug addicts in Great Britain notified to the addicts index was 17,716 in 1990, the latest year for which figures are available.Regional health authorities in England and health authorities in Wales and Scotland are now implementing a drug misuse database which will provide data on drug users starting a new episode of treatment at services in any six-month period. This will provide anonymised data on a wider range of drugs than the Home Office addicts index and will include information on the use of some medicinal products, such as benzodiazepines. Some regions now have this information available and it is hoped that information for Great Britain will be available next year.
| York Health District | |||||
| 11979 | 11980 | 21990–91 | Percentage change 1979 to 1990–91 | Percentage change 1980 to 1990–91 | |
| In-patients | 27,296 | 28,085 | 39,530 | 29·6 | 26·0 |
| Day cases | 4,444 | 4,658 | 5,425 | 22·1 | 16·5 |
| Out-patients | 157,451 | 162,638 | 172,133 | 9·3 | 5·8 |
| 1 In-patients: discharges and deaths. | |||||
| 2 in-patients: finished consultant episodes. | |||||