Scotland's £400,000-an-hour drug habit

Published on Tuesday 6 October 2009 20:02

SCOTLAND'S drug users spend £1.4 billion a year feeding their habit, resulting in social costs totalling almost £3.5bn annually – equivalent to £400,000 per hour.

The toll includes the price of treating drug users in the NHS, the cost to the criminal justice system and social care, as well as wider costs to the economy and society.

The research, commissioned by the Scottish Government, also shows that the number of drug users across the country is continuing to increase.

However, the authors of the two reports have criticised the way data is collected in Scotland, saying it is impossible to paint an accurate picture.

It is believed that there were 55,328 problem drug users across Scotland in 2006 – an increase of almost 4,000 from the figure from the previous survey in 2003.

It also found that there were an estimated 23,933 addicts who were injecting drugs, with this figure again higher than in 2003.

Glasgow remains the worst affected area, with one in every 75 people between the ages of 16 and 64 injecting.

Fergus Ewing, community safety minister, said the studies provided "the fullest picture ever obtained about the extent of the damage that drug misuse brings to communities".

He added: "It shows the scale of the problem both in human terms and in financial terms."

The researchers estimated that just over 90 per cent of problem drug users abused heroin, adding that this meant there could be 50,077 heroin users in Scotland.

They also calculated there were 15,697 problem drug users using crack cocaine, 18,019 using the heroin substitute methadone, 40,294 who were using cannabis, 6,136 taking amphetamines, 12,049 who were taking Ecstasy and 14,813 using cocaine.

Researchers said there were about 321,352 recreational drug users smoking or ingesting cannabis, while 100,111 people were believed to be taking cocaine on a recreational basis, 89,867 were estimated as being recreational users of Ecstasy and 63,791 were thought to be recreational users of amphetamine.

However, the authors of the studies – which were mainly carried out by researchers at the University of Glasgow – warned that the true scale of Scotland's drugs problem remains difficult to quantify due to the way statistics are gathered. The research calculated that, in 2006, problem drug users spent just over 900 million feeding their habit, while recreational drug users spent an estimated 518m. That means that the total value of the illegal drugs market was about 1.4bn.

David Liddell, director of Scottish Drugs Forum, said: "The figures come as no surprise and confirm largely what we already know – that Scotland continues to have one of the highest prevalence rates of problematic drug use in Europe."

Mr Liddell said that one of the most worrying aspects was the high level of injecting drug users.

He added: "These figures underline all too clearly why we must continue to invest in treatment, focus that investment on the most effective range of treatment, care and rehabilitation services – including areas like housing, family support and employability – and continue to address the underlying issues of poverty, deprivation and other social and health inequalities.

"These are overwhelmingly at the root of Scotland's drugs problem."