United Kingdom Drug Situation: Focal Point Annual Report
The United Kingdom Focal Point on Drugs (UK Focal Point) 2017 report is available on the UK government's digital portal.
Based at Public Health England, the UK Focal Point is the national partner of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).
The UK Focal Point reports to the EMCDDA on the drug situation in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland covering supply, use and public health issues. With contributions from the UK government, public health research institutes such as Liverpool John Moores University, the National Crime Agency and Public Health England.
The report highlights current drug trends exploring which substances people are taking in the UK, examines policy developments and spending, prevention, treatment, the criminal justice system, drug related deaths, drug harms, drug markets and the laws controlling the possession and supply of drugs.
A top-level view of issues relating to drugs in the UK is offered through the document. Information on national treatment guidelines is offered by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) with a list of informative documents covering needle and syringe programmes, comorbidity of mental health and substance use problems and psychosocial interventions.
Currently drug-related death (DRD) is the third most common cause of preventable death among 15-49 year-olds in the UK. The Focal Point report also provides information on the profile of DRDs in addition to other drug related harms and infectious diseases. Key information highlighted includes an increase in the number of people in the UK seen who have contracted HIV after injecting drugs.
The report will be useful to professionals and researchers exploring a wide range of issues from policy to treatment. It is available free to access and the text, tables and graphics can be reused under the Open Government Licence.