Listen
Drug use survey
26/01/2010
A survey looking at experience of drug use across Scotland has shown a decrease in the number of people taking illicit drugs.
The survey responses show that less people in Scotland have taken drugs in the last month, the last year, and over the course of their lives.
It also shows that the proportion of 16-59 years olds who reported that they had taken any illicit drug at some point in their lives is lower in Scotland than in England and Wales.
Since 2006, cannabis use has also decreased. Cocaine use has neither increased or decreased.
However, Community Safety Minister Fergus Ewing today gave a cautious welcome to the new figures saying that Scotland still faced a long battle ahead to turn around its damaging relationship with drugs.
Mr Ewing said:
"It is encouraging to see that more and more Scots are turning away from the destructive world of drugs misuse.
"The fact that there has been a decrease in drugs use across the country is to be welcomed, but this is just a small step in the right direction and there is still a long battle ahead to turn around Scotland's damaging relationship with drugs.
"We are under no illusions about the very real problems still being experienced by too many families and communities across Scotland and we will continue to fight as hard as we can to get the message across that drugs destroy lives and bring misery to communities.
"We are making progress through the first National Drugs Strategy since devolution which plots a new course for Scotland to travel in the way we tackle problem drug use.
"We are helping those caught in the downward spiral of drugs misuse to recover, and only last month announced a record £28.6 million funding for drug treatment services, delivering on our promise to increase frontline drugs services by 20 per cent. With police numbers in Scotland at record levels, our law enforcement agencies are also cracking down on the dealers who peddle misery and despair on our streets.
"However, dealing with Scotland's drugs problem is not straightforward. It involves a combination of education, prevention, treatment and enforcement - and a shared determination to support individuals on their road to recovery. But we will continue and we are committed to turning round lives and helping deliver a safer, stronger and healthier Scotland."
There were 10,974 people responded to the drugs survey as part of the Crime and Justice Survey 2008-09. The results are weighted to represent the Scottish population as a whole.
Subject to Parliamentary approval, the funding allocated to NHS Health Boards for drug treatment services in 2010-2011 will be £28.6 million; up from £23.8 million in 2006-2007. This represents an increase of 20 per cent since 2006-07.