Drugs: Misuse

(asked on 29th June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's Review of the Psychoactive Substances Act, published in November 2018, what steps her Department has taken since the publication of that report to resolve that lack of evidence to evaluate the impact of the Act on rates of drug use and related harm.


Answered by
Kit Malthouse Portrait
Kit Malthouse
This question was answered on 5th July 2021

We continue to collect and monitor a range of data on the use and harms of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), including:

  • Use of NPS among those aged 16 to 59 as part of the drug misuse module of the Crime Survey for England and Wales;
  • Use of NPS among 10 to 15 year olds in the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use survey;
  • People entering treatment for problems with NPS; and
  • Deaths involving NPS.

These allow us to monitor trends and any changes in the use of, and harms from, NPS.

Alongside this data, our engagement with partners inside and outside government (including policing, charities, treatment providers and the devolved administrations) also provides an opportunity to gather and share any soft intelligence related to the use and harms of NPS.

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