Drug-related illnesses on the increase

THE number of people treated for drug-related illnesses has risen by 25 per cent in the last four years.

THE number of people treated for drug-related illnesses has risen by 25 per cent in the last four years.

There were 6,166 hospital admissions for drug misuse last year – an average of 17 admissions every day. This was 400 more than in 2010 and 1332 more than in 2007.

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The increase contrasted with a 6 per cent fall in the rate of alcohol-related discharges from hospital in Scotland over the same five years.

Scottish Government figures out yesterday showed a fall in the number of younger people admitted to hospital for misusing drugs. The biggest rise in drug-related health problems was among 35 to 39-year-olds followed by users over the age of 40.

Three-quarters of the all patients admitted for drug-related conditions were men, the statistics showed.

A government spokesman said: “This is a hard-to-reach group of individuals but they are not forgotten and not lost to us.”

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