Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the level of misuse of nitrous oxide in the West Midlands.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The most reliable current source for prevalence of drug misuse is the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The Office for National Statistics publishes CSEW estimates for use of illicit drugs and psychoactive substances, including nitrous oxide, by adults aged 16-59. However, there are no available regional estimates for nitrous oxide due to small survey samples.
The latest estimates for drug misuse are for the year ending June 2022 available at:
Drug misuse in England and Wales - Appendix table - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk).
Data on school age drug misuse, primarily 11-15 year olds, is collected by NHS Digital and the latest data are available at:
Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England, 2021 - NDRS (digital.nhs.uk).