Drug Misuse
9.25 The illicit nature of drug use makes obtaining accurate estimates of the levels of usage challenging. The recorded figures for both drug possession and trafficking are thought to seriously understate the extent of offending in those areas. Police recorded crime figures tend to be more a measure of drug policing activity and changes may reflect changes in national and local policing priorities rather than changes in the incidence of drug use 4 .
9.26 The British Crime Survey is used to monitor trends in drug use (see Drug Misuse declared:Findings from the 2006/07 British Crime Survey ).
9.27 Analysis of the 2006/07 BCS revealed that the South West region had the highest levels of any illicit drug use amongst 16-59 year olds across the regions, although it was not significantly different from the England and Wales average (some 11.1% of those aged 16-59 reported having used illicit drugs in the last year in the South West compared to the England and Wales average of 10.0%). Class A drug usage in the last year in the South West, at 3.7%, was also, statistically, not significantly different to the England and Wales average of 3.4% 5 .
9.28 For those aged 16-24 only the North West and North East regions recorded overall drug usage rates higher than the South West (North West 29.7%, North East 28.1%, South West 26.9%, England and Wales average 24.1%) 6 .
9.29 Interestingly given these reported levels of usage, the results of the 2006/07 BCS showed that the proportion of people perceiving there to be high levels of drug use or dealing in their area was lower in the South West (22%) than in England and Wales as a whole (28%). See the public health chapter for further information about drug misuse in the South West.
- For example, in April 2004 formal warnings for cannabis possession were introduced leading to a 59% increase in the number of formal warnings issued between 2004/5 and 2005/6. This coincided with a 36% increase in the recording of possession of cannabis offences across England and Wales.
- These figures should be treated with some caution since the small number of respondents in each region make these figures subject to fluctuation.
- Please note that the sample size is relatively small and that figures quoted here of drug usage among 16-24s have not been subject to significance testing and these 'differences' should be considered indicative only.